Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa, has on behalf of the Attorney-General, filed a summary of evidence the state intends to rely on to prove its treason felony case against #FixTheCountry Convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.
The District Court will be invited to determine whether on the basis of the evidence, it is worth directing that the accused stands trial for the alleged offence at the High Court.
Treason Felony is an offence provided for in Section 182 of Ghana’s Criminal and other Offences Act, 1960, Act 29.
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It states that, “A person is guilty of treason-felony and shall be punishable for first degree
felony who –
(a) prepares or endeavours to procure by unlawful means any alteration of the law
or the policies of the Government; or
(b) prepares or endeavours to carry out by unlawful means any enterprise which
usurps the executive power of the State in any matter of both public and general
nature.”
The youth activist is accused of committing this offence in a series of Facebook posts leading to his arrest. The documents filed by the DPP reveals that three persons will be called to testify against Mr. Barker-Vormawor should the matter be transmitted to the High Court.
The State’s first witness will be telling the court that on 11th February, 2022 while using his Facebook account, he saw a post by the accused person which stated that; “if this E-Levy passes after this cake bullshit, I will do the coup myself. Useless Army!” .
He will continue that he was concerned about the statement by the accused person as he felt it had the potential to disturb the peace and stability of the country.
The State’s second witness will be a Cyber Intelligence investigator with the Police Service. He is to tell the court that during his routine monitoring of social media activities, he noticed a post made by the accused person.
He will add that his analysis of the post and comments attached indicated that the accused had managed to convince a number of people about the need to usurp the executive powers of the Republic through a violent overthrow of the Constitution.
He will point out that he was tasked by his superiors to continue monitoring the social media handle. He will also testify about other posts and the reactions they received as well.
The State’s third witness will be an officer stationed at the Ashaiman Police Station. He will brief the court on how he received a complaint from the first witness, the arrest of the accused person and how investigations revealed that Mr. Barker-Vormawor was “endeavoring to usurp the executive powers of the Republic by advocating for the violent overthrow of the Constitution.”
Also attached to this document are the following pieces of evidence;
Investigation caution statement of the accused dated 11th February, 2022
Charge statement of the accused dated 11th February, 2022
Investigation caution statement of the accused dated 16th February, 2022
Charge statement of the accused dated 1st April 2022
Facebook and Twitter posts of the accused person from February 2021 to
February 2022
Facebook post of the accused person on 30th April 2022
Intelligence report from Cyber Crime Unit
Intelligence report from National Security
State Prosecutors will on June 29, 2022 request that the District Court assesses these pieces of evidence and commit the accused persons to stand trial at the High Court.
