Three lawyers say they are afraid for their lives after a military intelligence officer threatened to kill them over a disputed piece of land in Juba.

The defense lawyers for Nile Commercial Bank accuse one Dut Deng of threatening to eliminate them over a court matter.

Advocates Godfrey Victor, Bout Kuet and Alias Vitali petitioned the court over Plot Number 11, Block 1, Third Class in Juba.

An affidavit shows that the plot was sold to Nile Commercial Bank in 2008 by a Sudanese national, Adam Zachariah.

But Dut is said to have laid claim over the piece of land in Hai Malakal.

According to records, Dut is also said to have bought the plot from the same Adam Zachariah.

Both the defendant and the accused were brought before the High Court in Juba.

The lawyers say during the cross-examination, Dut Deng is alleged to have publicly threatened to harm the three over the land in question.

“He threatens that he knows where we are. He will kill us,” one of the lawyers, Godfrey Victor, explained to Eye Radio.

As a result, he said they opened another case before a Juba court over the death threats and intimidation by Dut.

“We reported the matter and then we forwarded it to the public prosecution attorney, but he followed us and again threatened to kill us,” he continued.

“And there were a lot of witnesses. He said he is a military intelligence officer and has powers to do anything that he wants.”

Efforts to reach Dut via phone where not immediately successful.

However, the Penal Code 2008 prohibits threat and intimidation.

It stipulates that whoever threatens another with any injury….commits criminal intimidation, and upon conviction, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or with a fine or with both.

South Sudan has had a rule of law problem since its birth, according to Africa Center for Strategic Center.

Besides, a report by Amnesty International suggests that lack of independence has crippled the justice system in South Sudan.

The report argues that lack of prosecutorial independence has impeded the prosecution of serious human rights violations perpetrated since 2013 in the context of the conflict, partly writes AI in the Do you think we will prosecute ourselves: No prospects for accountability in South Sudan.