Court convicts N. Bahr El Ghazal youth leader for illegal assembly

The chairperson of Northern Bahr El Ghazal youth union,Tito Awen Bol was on Wednesday found guilty for holding illegal assembly by a court in Aweil town.

Deng Tong, the judge who presided over the case ruled that Awen serves one month in prison and also pay fine of 50,000 SSP for holding an illegal meeting with his two co-accused.

The trio was arrested on Tuesday at Railway hotel in Aweil town.

The youth union chairperson Tito Awen Bol was recently suspended by some members of the youth union who had accused him of mismanaging finances and not holding regular meetings of the youth union.

Bulis Nguak, Awen’s lawyer said he will appeal the court verdict.

“This is not a right decision taken by the court, we are going to ensure that the 50,000 SSP fine is cleared and sentence of 1 month is not important. Therefore, I would like to make it crystal clear that this is an inadvertent decision and a step has to be taken against such,” Nguak told Juba Echo.

Nguak said his client was badly beaten while being arrested by security personnel at Railway hotel, adding he will apply for bail so that Awen seeks proper treatment for his injuries.

The deputy spokesperson of Northern Bahr El Ghazal Youth Union, Deng Atuop Deng told The Juba Echo that Awem and his colleagues were accused of not seeking permission from national security services (NSS) to hold the meeting.

“We told them that we had delivered letters to all relevant institutions like NSS, police and the state government, but the detectives didn’t heed to our explanation,” Atuop said.

Atuop said they are working to ensure that the chairperson and his other two colleagues are released by security agents.