Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoSOUTH SUDAN / MALAKAL MOBILE COURT
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / MALAKAL MOBILE COURT
TRT: 3:04
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH /JUBA ARABIC /NATS
DATELINE: 27 FEBRUARY 2019, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Various shots, sexual violence survivor
2. Various shots, Mobile court proceedings
3. Wide shot, UN vehicles
4. Tracking shot, UN vehicle transporting suspects
5. Wide shot, suspects escorted to mobile court
6. Various shots, Mobile court proceedings
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Judge Marrow Deng, Justice of the High Court of South Sudan:
“Convict Albino Simon Omot, you’re hereby sentenced to 1. Imprisonment for three years, with effect from today, 21st February 2019. 2. You [are] to be handed over to the National Prisons Service by the United Nations Police for the sake of clearance. Made under my hand, Mobile Court, 21st of February 2019.”
8. Med Shot, Cecelia Anuar Kac
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Cecilia Anuar Kac, mother of the sexually assaulted 4-year-old girl:
“I am now happy when the sentence was announced, because the law has taken its course.”
10. Wide Shot, Mobile Court Proceeding
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Daud Othon Othow, Public Prosecutor, Central Upper Nile Area:
“The first accused Albino Simon Omot, criminal case is under article 396 of sexual assault on a four-year-old child. It was a serious crime and with a sentence of three years imprisonment, he was lucky (?), this is a sign to would-be criminals that anybody involved in such criminal acts will face the same judgment.”
12. Wide shot, Mobile Court proceeding
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Santino Koch, defense lawyer:
“Whatever comes out from the court is always justified what I would like to say is that the judgement today was right to the accused. That they should [have] the verdict and the sentence as they have waited for long without trial and it’s good that each one of them knew their destiny already and their presence in the prison. But now at least they have known their status through their conviction today.”
14. Med shot, Mobile Court proceeding
Over a three-day period, a mobile court deployed to the town of Malakal in north-eastern South Sudan to process long-pending cases involving four individuals who had committed serious crimes, including two cases of sexual violence and one case of armed-robbery.
With the assistance of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan’s Rule of Law Unit, national judicial officers were flown in from the capital, Juba, to hear and pass sentences that ended a long spell of waiting for justice.
Once all is set, the suspects are brought in from the United Nations protection site, under heavy UN police security. And then one by one, the accused take their place in the dock, as the audience awaits the proceedings
On Day 1, the 16-year-old’s rape case comes up, followed by an armed robbery case. And on Day 2, the sexual assault case, involving a 4-year-old girl. The suspect is this 26-year-old man, a resident of the United Nations protection site in Malakal.
He allegedly waylaid the little girl as she walked home from her grandmother’s house in the UN protection area. After promising to give her candy, he took of her clothes and sexually assaulted her.
SOUNDBITE (English) Judge Marrow Deng, Justice of the High Court of South Sudan:
“Convict Albino Simon Omot, you’re hereby sentenced to 1. Imprisonment for three years, with effect from today, 21st February 2019. 2. You [are] to be handed over to the National Prisons Service by the United Nations Police for the sake of clearance. Made under my hand, Mobile Court, 21st of February 2019.”
Little girl’s mother was relieved.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Cecilia Anuar Kac, mother of the sexually assaulted 4-year-old girl:
“I am now happy when the sentence was announced, because the law has taken its course.”
Satisfied with the sentence, the prosecution sees it as a lesson to would-be offenders.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Daud Othon Othow, Public Prosecutor, Central Upper Nile Area:
“The first accused Albino Simon Omot, criminal case is under article 396 of sexual assault on a four-year-old child. It was a serious crime and with a sentence of three years imprisonment, he was lucky (?), this is a sign to would-be criminals that anybody involved in such criminal acts will face the same judgment.”
It is a verdict that both sides seem to be satisfied with. Santino Koch is the convicted offender’s lawyer.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Santino Koch, defense lawyer:
“Whatever comes out from the court is always justified what I would like to say is that the judgement today was right to the accused. That they should [have] the verdict and the sentence as they have waited for long without trial and it’s good that each one of them knew their destiny already and their presence in the prison. But now at least they have known their status through their conviction today.”
It’s the second time justice has come to Malakal on the wings and on the wheels, the first mobile court having sat here from 16 to 20 October 2018. Then, the court tried four cases involving five persons accused of serious sexual-violence crimes committed in the Malakal UN protection site. All five persons were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 18 months to 10 years.
It is all a part of efforts to complement UNMISS’s broader strategy to close the impunity gap for serious crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence, by promoting increased accountability in national courts.
