Clement Lochio Lomornana

Clement Lochio Lomornana (born 1983; disappeared 15 August 2015) is a South Sudanese journalist and human rights activist. Through his work with Gurtong Media, he became known for his defence of media rights and freedom of speech in South Sudan, as well as his criticisms of the civil war. Lochio Lomornana was arrested on 6 August 2015, and has not been seen publicly since 15 August 2015, with some human rights organisations describing him as "presumed dead".

Career Lochio Lomornana is a member of the Didinga people and was originally from Namorunyang, a village in Kapoeta South County in Eastern Equatoria in what was then the Democratic Republic of Sudan. Lochio Lomornana and his family were displaced during the Second Sudanese Civil War, and in 1993 they were forced to flee their village due to shelling by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, eventually settling in a refugee camp in Kenya. At the age of 10, Lochio Lomornana was forced to fight for the SPLA as a child soldier.

Lomornana worked as a journalist and photographer for Gurtong Media for six years at the time of his disappearance in 2015, and was based in Juba. Lochio Lomornana became an advocate for freedom of speech and of the media in post-independence South Sudan. Through Gurtong Media he attempted to introduce different ethnic groups to one another, including Didinga, Nuer, Dinka and Ketebo.

In the early hours of 6 August 2015, Lochio Lomornana was arbitrarily detained by security forces from his home in Chukudum, Budi County, East Equatoria, alongside two friends, brothers Amin and Nailo Venansio. The men were taken to military barracks were they were allegedly tortured by agents from Juba in order to get them to confess to crimes they had not committed. During their detainment, the Venansio brothers were permitted family visits, while Lochio Lomornana was not. The last recorded sighting of Lochio Lomornana and Nailo Venansio was on 15 August 2015, when local sources reported that the men had been seen being forced into a military vehicle. Amin Venansio was subsequently released without charge. Mark Akio Ukinbul, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting for Eastern Equatoria, told Nation Mirror that he was unaware of any journalists being arrested in Budi County. The Budi County Commissioner, Felix Makuja, initially said that the men were being investigated before being potentially transferred to Torit or Juba for further investigation, before stating in a subsequent interview that he was not aware that the men had been detained or their locations.

Lochio Lomornana's family made unsuccessful attempts to locate him at military barracks in Torit, Kapoeta, and Juba. The Guardian and Human Rights Watch have both described Lochio Lomornana as "presumed dead", though he officially remains a missing person; his family told Radio Tamazuj that they believed he was dead and had held funeral rites for him.

In February 2016, Front Line Defenders reported on the six month anniversary of Lochio Lomornana's disappearance, expressing "grave concern" at his detainment and stating it was linked to his "peaceful and legitimate human rights work".