Highlights
- First South Sudanese to be a second high ranked judge of Sudanese Constitutional Court 2005-2011
- a former Judge of South Sudanese Supreme Court
- A retired major general
Justice Bullen Panchol Awal Alier was appointed by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir as a Judge to South Sudan Supreme Court and confirmed alongside other three judges by South Sudan legislative assembly in September of 2011. Before the independence of South Sudan, Justice Bullen Panchol Awal Alier was appointed to the Sudanese Constitutional Court in Khartoum by Dr John Garang de Mabior (Sudanese First Vice President and President of the Government of South Sudan 2005). As a trained soldier, Justice Pnachol retired from the SPLA with the rank of Major General.
Bullen Pnachol was the first South Sudanese to hold a position at the Sudanese constitutional court after 21 years of war between the North and South Sudan. When South Sudan and North separated in on the 9th of July 2011, Justice Bullen moved to the South where he was appointed few to the Supreme Court. Justice Bullen Panchol resigned from the Supreme Court on the 29th of June 2018. He went into private practices where he founded Alier Gaar Law firm.
Justice Panchol was interviewed in January 2020 by Mading Ngor Akech of Dolku Media, and some of the questions were about work at South Sudan judiciary as a judge of the supreme court. He was asked about why he resigned, and he has this message.
Justice Bullen Panchol Awal Alier post for a photo in USA Source: Supplied
“I saw things going, and everything is almost wrong. I became more sick and preferred staying at home. I ‘become more sick because I can’t spend 21 years in the bush to come and find all this mess. Abel Alier once told when we came from the bush when we met in Khartoum in 2005. He told me,’Panchol, the Judiciary must be as it is in England.’ When he said that compared to now, he would be very sad.”
However, South Sudanese is facing many challenges when it comes to the Justice System as a whole and Judiciary in particular. Bullen Panchol was an advocate for reform in the Judiciary so that South Sudanese can live in peace. It was his dream that South Sudan might emerge as one of the best Judicial Systems in Africa. However, Judge Bullen saw nothing changing in the system after serving for first years. Mading asked him about the best ways forward in South Sudanese Judiciary.
“Retract the Judiciary and possibly re-address the types of mankind’s, the type of personals you would wish to take forward that kind of institution. It is down now, and it is nonexistence…….What I will say is Justice System in the South is punctuated with a lot of problems. One of them is gun in the hands of people, illiteracy, poverty, and we have to improve.”
The life of Bullen Panchol Awal Alier in brief.
Justice Bullen Panchol Awal Alier when he was young Source: Supplied
Justice Bullen Panchol Awal Alier born in 1950 to the family of Awal Alier Gaar from the clan of Angakuei and Abeny Tiir Angoh of Palek. Bullen started his primary Education near his home village at Baidit Bush School in 1957, Malek Elementary School in 1960, Obel Junior Secondary School in 1963, and Rumbek Senior Secondary School 1966. Justice Bullen Panchol obtained the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1975 from the University of Khartoum. He later passed his bar exams and started working in many areas in Sudan and the far South.
When the war broke out in 1983, He resigned his post as presiding Judge in Yambio many months later and joined SPLA in 1984. While in Ethiopia, Justice Bullen Panchol was trained as a military officer and commissioned as a captain and a judiciary officer. He was dispatched to the field in South Sudan with Zalzal Battalion where he served in many regions of South Sudan. Justice Panchol was promoted to the higher military rank of alternate commander in 2000. Known for being a fearless lawyer who stands his ground, Justice Bullen was among those arrested by the SPLA in the 1990s. One of the detainees who was arrested with him at Kansuk said this about Justice Bullen Panchol.
“When we were arrested at Kansuk, Justice Panchol was the only person who could be allowed to go and look mangoes for us to survive. He would walk for many kilometres just to go and find food for us. We suffered during the SPLA, but Panchol remained patriotic.”
Bullen Panchol was one of the leading delegates who negotiated some protocols that were later known as Machakos Protocols, and all these resulted in the cessation of hostilities between the North and South. Bullen went back to school in Germany at Heidelberg University to study Master of Laws (LLM) in Constitutional Law. He also studied Comparative Constitutional and International Law at Max Plunck Institutes in Germany, 2002’.
Justice Panchol Awal Alier was a family man and came from the big family of Alier Gaar. He is survived by wives but lost his first wife about a decade ago. He is a blessed father of 17 children and grand 5 grandchildren.
Disclaimer: The story or the life story is not approved by the family and some narratives can be updated.
