Reorientation of an abused journalist is not enough – Amnesty Intl denounces the police

A human rights group, Amnesty International, accused the Mataheko police near Camp Michelle of not helping a journalist who was allegedly ill-treated by two army officers.

Country Director Robert Akoto Amoafo said the police could have done more than just reoriented the plaintiff to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), after having surrendered on site to report the incident.

The journalist, James Harry Obeng, claimed that he was manhandled Wednesday by two soldiers whom he could only identify as being Owusu and Mensah, who forced him to weed for a while. time as punishment.

It was after one of the soldiers (Owusu) asked him to tell from his point of view what had caused an altercation between the driver of a commercial bus he was riding and some operators of transportation along the Michelle Camp – Mataheko section.

He stated that shortly after beginning to tell the incident, the soldier suddenly interrupted him and ordered him to follow him to the camp gate, where he asked his other colleague (Mensah) to hand him a cutlbad.

He did it for an hour.

James Harry Obeng

After his release, he went to the Mataheko police station to file a complaint against the two military officers, but the police asked him to refer the matter to the Human Rights and Administrative Justice Commission ( CHRAJ), he said.

Although the CHRAJ acknowledged receipt of a petition to this effect, Robert Akoto Amoafo said that the police should have shown more empathy towards the victim.

"The police could have taken the charges, escorted the person, regardless of the procedure, so that person was certain that he had informed the police and that the right thing to do was done rather than to reorient it, "said Amnesty International director at Citi FM.

At the same time, an officer of the CHRAJ Complainants Unit, who pleaded for anonymity, said that three commission directors would review the case and determine whether the commission was mandated to conduct new surveys, reported the Ghanaian Times.