A selfie of Dr Piin Deng showing face injuries he sustained during the arrest

The Principal of Aweil Health Institute is calling for justice after he was arrested and tortured by military officers at the weekend.

Dr. Apiin Deng told Eye Radio that he was picked up from his office in Aweil town on Friday and detained at a military facility.

He said he tried to resist and demanded the soldiers to produce arrest warrant, in vain.

“They ordered four soldiers from military intelligence to take me by force. They tortured me and locked me up,” Dr. Deng explained.

He says he was detained and tortured because he tried to enquire about 6 million SSP tuition fee for this year that disappeared from the institute’s finance department.

Dr. Apiin suspected two staff of the institute – Santino Yel and Marko Jongkur – who work in the finance department for the missing money.

But he stressed that when he tried to question the two about the money, they instead used military officers to intimidate him, to force him forget about the money.

The medic identified the two soldiers who detained him as Ngor Awad and one Piol.

Eye Radio’s attempts to reach the accused for comment were not immediately successful.

Dr. Deng said he was considering opening a court case against the men.

The South Sudanese authorities have allowed impunity to flourish over serious human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since brutal conflict broke out in December 2013, according to Amnesty International.

"Hired" soldiers in Aweil reportedly brutalized and arbitrarily threw in the head of Aweil Health Institute, Dr Piin Deng, for questioning his staff members over disappearance of 6 million pounds last weekend #SouthSudan pic.twitter.com/fx1bU8Qnc8

— Eye Radio (@EyeRadioJuba) February 24, 2020