A close bodyguard of South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar died in military detention in Juba on Thursday morning, family members and colleagues said.
Captain Luka Gathok Nyuon, a native of Mayom County, was arrested in March shortly after Machar was placed under house arrest in the capital. Nyuon, who was in his 40s, had been held along with several of his colleagues at the Jamus military detention center.
A family member told Radio Tamazuj that they were informed of Nyuon’s death early Thursday morning.
“We were told by the military that Luka was sick in detention,” the relative said. When asked if the family had been allowed to see or collect the body, he said, “The body is still at the military hospital mortuary in Giyada, and the family has not been allowed to see it or take it.”
“We were not allowed to see the body to confirm if there are other reasons for the death, such as torture. We heard they are conducting their own investigation,” the family member added.
He said the family had not been allowed to visit Nyuon while he was in detention. They are now calling on the authorities to release the body for burial and to launch an independent investigation into the circumstances of his death.
“The government body that arrested him must ensure a transparent and thorough investigation is carried out — why he died in detention and why he couldn’t get medical treatment,” the family member said.
Alfred Gatmai, the SPLM-IO caucus secretary for information in Mayom County, confirmed the death to Radio Tamazuj.
“In the morning we were informed as family members and comrades in the SPLM-IO,” he said. “Gathok was arrested in March and was sick while in detention at the Jamus headquarters but could not access medication.”
Gatmai suggested that Nyuon may have been tortured during his detention.
“The torture is because they want them to either surrender or denounce their leader. There are many of the first vice president’s bodyguards in detention — around 80 of them,” he said.
“We have not been given the body, but they said they will call us again at any time about how to collect it,” he added.
Repeated attempts to reach SSPDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang for comment went unanswered.
The incident comes amid heightened political and security tensions in South Sudan.
Last week, President Salva Kiir suspended Machar and referred him to court, accusing him of treason and crimes against humanity related to a March militia attack on a military base in Nasir County.
Several members of Machar’s security detail and key opposition figures were arrested in March, including Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chuol and Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam, deputy chief of general staff of the army.