By Chol Makol Riak
Officials at the Jonglei State High Court have resumed work on Wednesday after two months of suspension due to lack of a judge.
The state High Court president, Justice John Yel Aleu, told No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper in a phone interview that he had been away presiding over Mobile courts in parts of Bahr el Ghazal regions.
“I am fully back to my office in Bor and I have started hearings and trials of the cases which accumulated during my absence, I spent more than two months away from Jonglei state’s capital Bor,” he said.
“I left Bor on January for a mission to the areas of Awiel, Tonj, Warap state and Wau, I went there to solve some cases in those areas. I spent days in those different states and I have successfully solved their cases and I am finally back to Jonglei state,” Yel explained.
“I’m calling on the residents of Bor to be patient and seek legal redress to their grievances, even with the delays in court proceedings,” he said
He added that all the citizens of Jonglei state having court cases in Jonglei state high court are all urged to come and follow up their cases.
“I know that the people of Jonglei have been patient and the work of Judiciary has no border, so I am calling on those people who have cases in the high court to come and follow their cases,” Yel stressed.
Yel revealed that a project which he had written several months ago to United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] to support the Judiciary with vehicles has succeeded. He said he had brought along two vehicles to facilitate transport for the staff and inmates.
“I wrote a project some months ago which has been approved by UNDP for all the ten states and I have brought two cars, one is for the transportation of the staff and one is for transportation of the inmates from the prison to the court side,” Yel said.
Yel urged the people of Jonglei state to seek Justice whenever they have differences rather than taking laws into there own hands.
Deng John, a Bor resident welcomed the resumption of the Jonglei State High Court, saying months without access to justice created feuds among the locals.
“We welcome justice Yel, the people of Jonglei state have been waiting to see him in the state because since he left the state most of the cases got stalled at the high court and that created feuds among the locals,” John said.
He urged the Judge to speed up with cases as they have accumulated in his absence.