Three men who were abducted last Tuesday evening by soldiers dressed in the uniform of the Tiger Division, which protects the president, have been released, according to family members.
The men — identified as Gatdiet Peter, Massap Koang, and Gatjang Dogor — were taken from a tea place in Juba’s Hai Thoura suburb and driven away in a vehicle. Their ages range from 35 to 40, relatives said.
One of the detainees, Gatdiet, is a Dutch citizen who had arrived in Juba two weeks earlier to get married.
Bichiok Gatuong, a relative of the three men, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that the men had been released.
“As a family, we want to inform the public that the three detainees have been released. Two of them were released on Saturday, and the other one was released on Sunday,” Gatuong said.
He said the men were initially detained by the Tiger Division, then later transferred to a National Security facility near the riverside.
“A case against them was raised falsely by someone — that the three are members of the SPLM-IO, and that Peter Gatdiet, who has recently come from The Netherlands, supports SPLM-IO, and that Massap is an officer in SPLA-IO. So if you look at those accusations, they are not true,” he said.
Gatuong added that National Security has since dropped the case and released the men, but authorities have asked Gatdiet to remain in Juba for three weeks.
“He will be monitored in Juba for three weeks, and their phones, money and a car have been returned. They were not tortured, so they were not mistreated in the detention case,” he said.
When asked who made the false accusations, Gatuong said the individual is a member of the Tiger Division from the Nuer ethnic group.
He thanked God for the release of his relatives.
Efforts to reach military officials for comment were unsuccessful.
Edmund Yakani, a civil society activist and executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), welcomed the release of the three South Sudanese after what he called a brief but unlawful detention by the Tiger Division.
“This is a positive response to our advocacy. We now urge all security and defense institutions to sincerely respect and uphold the rule of law and human rights,” Yakani said.
“Unlawful detentions across the country are painting a negative image of the government,” he added. “If any South Sudanese is in conflict with the law, legal procedures should be followed instead of arbitrary arrests and, in some cases, torture. These unlawful acts by state institutions often lead citizens to view the government as an enemy.”
Yakani further called on security institutions to stop overstepping their roles by carrying out arrests, a function legally mandated to the police.
“CEPO urges the new chief justice to expand legal reforms to law enforcement institutions. These unlawful actions directly undermine the judicial reforms currently being championed by the new leadership of the judiciary,” he said.