A courtroom in Ghana on 24 January sentenced for six folks – together with three troopers – to dying for his or her involvement in a plot to overthrow the federal government 4 years in the past. The courtroom, nonetheless, acquitted high UN-trained Ghanaian police chief Benjamin Agordzo, military colonel Samuel Kodzo Gameli and a junior army officer, corporal Seidu Abubakar, citing an absence of proof connecting them to the treason fees.
The accused, alleged members of an affiliation known as Take Motion Ghana (TAG), have been mentioned to have deliberate demonstrations to topple president Nana Akufo-Addo’s authorities.
Agordzo, who was rising to the highest as head of transformation inside the Ghana police service, was accused of advocating for an ‘Arab spring’ – a sequence of pro-democracy uprisings and protests that resulted in a change of governments in a number of international locations within the Arab world – in Ghana.
Following his acquittal, a jubilant Agordzo mentioned: “We give glory to God. He alone has made it occur. They knew it was falsehood. Our God doesn’t fail. I’ve all the time been free inside my coronary heart and I knew the way it was going to finish.”
Intelligence operation
The suspects have been apprehended in 2019 following an intelligence-led operation by the Ghana Armed Forces. In response to courtroom paperwork, six unregistered pistols, one registered gun, 22 explosives, three grenades, 63 rounds of ammunition, two empty AK47 magazines and different gear utilized in manufacturing weapons have been uncovered at an area hospital that was serving as their base in Accra.
It is a frivolous case and abuse of energy
Safety operatives managed to infiltrate their ranks and after tapping their telephones and recording conversations in reference to the crime, the suspects (together with a gunsmith) have been picked up and charged with treason.
All of them pleaded not responsible. Treason is punishable by dying in Ghana’s statutes though the West African nation in August 2023 abolished capital punishment for different crimes similar to homicide and smuggling. The punishment will be carried out by hanging or by firing squad.
Francis-Xavier Sosu, a human rights lawyer and opposition MP who sponsored the invoice to abolish capital punishment was disillusioned by Wednesday’s judgment, calling it retrogressive.
“It’s fairly disappointing that this present day, we’ll nonetheless be having a sentence of dying by hanging,” Sosu tells The Africa Report.
Compensation
Constitutional lawyer Martin Kpebu, representing Agordzo, says he’ll search compensation for “malicious prosecution.”
“It is a frivolous case and abuse of energy,” Kpebu tells The Africa Report. “The state simply needed to destroy my shopper’s profession for expressing his views in opposition to corruption within the Akufo-Addo authorities.”
Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, an affiliate professor of regulation on the College of Ghana College of Legislation, echoes Kpebu’s sentiments, saying what occurred to Agordzo “creates a dent on the picture of Ghana’s human rights report … [Agordzo] is entitled to be compensated as a result of it’s a clear case of malicious prosecution.”
The six convicts – Donya Kafui (alias Ezor), Vivid Allan Debrah Ofosu, Yohannes Zikpi, warrant officer class two Esther Saan Dekuwine, lance corporal Ali Solomon, and corporal Sylvester Akanpewon – could take solace in Ghana not having carried out any executions since returning to a steady democracy in 1992. The most recent jail information present that 176 individuals, together with six girls, have been on dying row in Ghana.
Addressing the media after the judgment, legal professional normal Godfred Yeboah Dame, who led the prosecution, expressed satisfaction with the result of the trial, saying that “if these convicts weren’t arrested, solely God is aware of what would have occurred to this nation”.
He added: “It’s a vital judgment as a result of the structure of Ghana … frowns significantly upon any try and overthrow a authorities and that’s the reason that offence [treason] is punishable by dying.” A treason trial has not taken place in Ghana since 1966, following the coup of the nation’s first president Kwame Nkrumah.
Victor Adawudu, the defence lawyer for the convicted people, mentioned he would attraction the sentence.
Gameli additionally described his fees as frivolous, saying he was dedicated to democracy. “I’ve gone on a number of worldwide peacekeeping missions and I do know what international locations undergo below unconstitutional regimes. Why ought to I come and destabilise my very own nation?”
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