Handcuffs - Courtesy

Six days after former Juba Mayor Kalisto Ladu was snatched by security personnel, a former judge in the Court of Appeal says the arbitrary arrest is a violation of the country’s constitution.

Kalisto was kidnapped near his residence on the night of 30th March by heavily armed security officers to an undisclosed location, according to the family.

His wife, Ann Grace said the whereabouts of her husband remain unknown, and added that she has filed a police case on the issue.

Dr. Geri Raimondo, a law professional, explained that any arrest against a citizen must begin with a complainant filing a petition to the public prosecutor about an offence.

He said the public prosecution is the only authority to arrest a suspect through the police provided that it has a warrant.

“It is unconstitutional, it is unlawful. It is illegal because any arrest is supposed to be with a complainant or an informer who can submit the petition to the public prosecutor,” he narrated.

“Then the public prosecutor is the one to investigate, to arrest, all process with the police. Public prosecutor alone can do it without even the police.”

Dr. Raimondo stated that the National Security bill must be amended to strip the agency of its powers to arrest civilians without warrant as stipulated in the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement.

He said the law only authorizes the National Security to feed the police with information about situations of public threats instead of making arrests.

The law expert cited Article 135 of the Transitional Constitution, which gives powers to the Public Prosecution, the Police and the Judiciary but not the National Security.

“The security bill, according to the requirement of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, is one of the laws to be amended specially where they are arresting people.”

“It is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution Article 135 which gives the only powers to the Public Prosecution and the police plus the Judiciary but not with the security to arrest anybody.”

“They can help these security agencies. They don’t have right to arrest but they can help and provide information.”

– ‘Jungle law’ –

Dr. Raimondo said the law of South Sudan does not allow security agencies to arrest anyone who is not an immediate threat to public safety without warrant or investigation.

The law professional said the detained former Juba mayor should have been taken to a police station in case of any offense linked to him, and an investigator assigned to address the case.

“You cannot arrest someone without assigning an investigator, it is unlawful, it is unconstitutional, and this is a jungle law in South Sudan,” he said.

He argues that acts of Parliament which is not in line with the provisions of the Revitalized Peace Agreement is unconstitutional, null and void because, in his words, the agreement was incorporated into the transitional constitution.

“Any Act of the Parliament including the Security Act which is inconsistent with the provisions of the Revitalized Agreement incorporated into our constitution, is unconstitutional and it is null and void.”

“The constitution is a supreme law of the country, and nothing can go against it unless he commits crime against a complainant, then that case should be filed in the relevant police station, then they could have assigned an investigator.”

Both the police spokesperson and the National Security Spokesperson have told Eye Radio they are not aware of the disappearance.

When contacted, David John Kumuri, the spokesperson of National Security maintained that he has no comment on matter.

However, Kumuri said he was still waiting for a briefing from the leadership of the institution before making a public statement.

“I have no comment up to now. I am still consulting with the leadership. As soon as I am briefed or as soon as I got the information from the leadership then I will be able to inform the public, but until now I have no information.”