Breach of court order lands 13 leaders in jail
By JAMES APA GUMUNO
EIGHT councillors, one village court magistrate, one lawyer and three villager leaders from Wapenamanda in Enga province have been jailed for six months for failing to carry out a village court order.
The 13 are from the Ambulin tribe, which has been involved in a tribal war with a neighbouring tribe over a long period, leading to deaths and massive destructions to properties, including an international school run by the Lutheran church.
They were arrested and jailed for breaching a preventive order.
The leaders were arrested on Feb 13 and are serving their term at the Baisu jail in the Western Highlands province. This is the first time the police have decided to enforce a preventive order issued by the village court.
Enga provincial police commander Supt Michael Chare said yesterday that the leaders were arrested after their tribesmen murdered a man from their enemy tribe early last month. This killing breached the preventive order.
Mr Chare said that the leaders took the preventive order as just a peace of paper and did not educate their tribesmen about its consequence.
He said after the killing last month, the leaders failed to cooperate with police to hand over the suspects, leading to their arrest.
Stunned by the jailing of their leaders, the village people yesterday submitted four names of suspects to police, and promised that they would hand them over by the end of the week.
But Mr Chare said that even after suspects are handed over to police, the leaders would still serve their term in jail. The suspects would be dealt separately for murder.
Nation Stories