GENERAL NEWS
Western-Togoland: 78 alleged separatists pressed with new charges
The State has re-arraigned the alleged separatists suspected of being behind last month’s violence in parts of the Volta Region only hours after they were discharged by Circuit Courts in Accra.
Prosecutor ASP Sylvester Asare told the Circuit Court that the State withdrew the charges to enable it bring all of them into one courtroom under a consolidated case.
Under an amended charge sheet, the State also told the Accra Circuit Court 2 that it had no jurisdiction to grant the suspects bail since the crimes were not committed within the authority area of the court.
They have been charged, variously, with; treason felony, conspiracy to commit crime, namely, treason felony, conspiracy to commit crime, namely, participating in a campaign of prohibited organisation namely Western Togoland, conspiracy to commit crime, namely, causing unlawful damage.
Arguing for bail, however, defence lawyers prayed the court to consider the rights of the suspects, their appalling welfare conditions under remand and their readiness to avail themselves for the case whenever called upon by the State.
The defence team argued that the suspects are entitled to be presumed innocent until otherwise proven and that the circumstances under which the State is allowed to curtail the rights of citizens under Article 14 (1) of the 1992 Constitution did not include the present circumstances.
Conceding on the prosecution’s argument on jurisdiction, the defense team insisted however that the State should have taken the matter to the appropriate forum.
They argued that the court could intervene to protect the rights of the suspects by granting bail even if it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.
Welfare of Suspects
The defence lawyers decried what is described as inhumane treatment the 78 re-arraigned suspects are going through in BNI custody.
Theophilus Donkor who described the suspects’ situation in open court claimed that the suspects are cramped into two little cubicles at the BNI and denied food.
