Juba advocate Gabriel Kuot Akok has accused the government of Warrap State of failing to explain alleged extrajudicial killings in the state, following the expiry of a 14-day ultimatum by the Justice Minister.
Akok had, a fortnight ago, notified the Justice Ministry of his intention to sue the State Government over a law called the Green Book that allows killing by a firing squad.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, he said the Warrap Governor had also fired a Paramount Chief, who was his prospective client.
“The deadline was yesterday, September 9, and we were expecting the governor to respond, but unfortunately I was surprised by the dismissal of chiefs, including the paramount chief, who was the intended applicant,” Counsel Akok said.
The lawyer said the governor contravened the law by removing the paramount chief.
“There is no governor or any other government official who appoints the traditional authority leaders. These leaders are appointed by their people, by their Bomas and that is something that cannot be interfered with by the governor,” he said.
Akok said that before firing the chief, the governor had asked him to apologize for intending to sue the state government over the extrajudicial killings.
“He was asking the chief to apologize to him for intending to sue the state government and for writing the petition to parliament on behalf of the people,” he said.
“But the chief said it was the government that was supposed to apologize to the people because of their son who was killed,” he added.