Russians’ lawyer fights police

Ralph Poku-Adusei, lawyer for three Russians, who have been hauled before court for allegedly kidnapping two persons at East Legon in Accra, has accused the prosecution of neglecting its case.

According to him, the police had failed to provide evidence to secure the conviction of the accused persons almost a year after they were arrested and put before court.

Musa Musaev, Rizakhan Sultanov, Vladimir Nabiev and six others, now at large, were charged in July 2018 after Ramazan Kafarov, another Russian, who is currently domiciled in Ghana, lodged a complaint.

The accused persons have made over 10 appearances in court.

However, the complainant has never turned up, and the police prosecutors have prayed the court for the adjournment of the case on numerous occasions.

According to Mr. Poku-Adusei, Ramazan Kafarov is said to be in a financial tussle with some other foreign nationals, including the three accused persons, who have been charged with kidnapping as a result of his complaint.

Additionally, he said investigations revealed that the third accused persons Vladimir Nabiev was litigating with the complainant over his illegal takeover of Geo Professional Services Limited (GPS).

He said the complainant fabricated the accusations against him and the two others in order to circumvent the civil action.

Appearing before the trial court, presided over by Rita Abrokwah Doku, last Thursday, the prosecution, led by DSP Mawunyo Nanegbe, stated that their docket was ready for transfer to the Attorney General for advice.

He further asked for another adjournment for them to return to court.

But in a sharp rebuttal to the position of the prosecution, Mr Poku-Adusei drew the attention of the court to the fact that this was the fourth time in four months that the prosecution was informing the court about the transfer of the said docket to the Attorney General.

He further told the court that the police were “playing with the rights and freedoms of the accused persons and that the attitude of the prosecution clearly demonstrates an intention to deny the rights of the accused persons.”

The accused persons, whose passports are in the custody of the Registrar of the Court, have called on the prosecution to discontinue the case for them to have their freedom if it’s not ready to continue the case.

The case has been adjourned to July 8, 2019.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com