The four were said to be members of a community policing unit.

They are accused of unlawfully detaining Aleu Dut Chan in the community policing center in the Mathiang residential area.

Mr. Dut was found hanging with a belt around his neck in one of the illegal cells.

According to the police, the suspects had no right to detain anyone in their community policing centre.

“We close down the Mathiang community policing center after we found out that a 22 years old man died in the cell. It’s unfortunate that the community policing has overpassed their mandate,” Captain Guot Guot Akol, the state police spokesperson told Eye Radio.

“It’s not their mandate to detain a person under any circumstances. It’s not acceptable for them to take law by their hand and arrest and detain someone.

“We also noted that the center was established without the knowledge of the police and has been operating for a couple of months. Now there are four community policing members who are under investigation for negligence.”

Captain Guot added that the names of the four suspects will not be made public due to fear of retaliation from the deceased family members.

Late Aleu Dut Chan was reportedly arrested by a community policing unit following a gang-related fight.

There are about 27 community policing centers in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.

Their role is to prevent community-based crime, increase police accountability to local communities, and the decentralization of command.