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General News of Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-02-19
Gregory Afoko
Gregory Afoko's family, Alhaji Adams Mahama, one of the suspects prosecuted for the murder of the president of the Upper East Side (NPP), believes that invisible hands are manipulating the justice system to unfairly punish Gregory Afoko to keep him in detention without bail.
According to the family, his suspicions were confirmed when the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, at a press conference, announced that the government would ask the President of the Supreme Court to appoint a judge to review Gregory's trial.
At a press conference in Accra, the family on Tuesday asked whether the judge who had held Gregory in custody for four years and ruled it was not dedicated.
A spokesman for the family, Robert Atong Asekabta, said: "We think the government is trying to manipulate the justice system to achieve a predetermined outcome."
According to him, the government's decision to carry out a new arrest of the suspect after filing a nose prosequai "aiming to dismiss the case at a very late stage of the case" is to torture, intimidate and obtain involuntary confessions from Gregory and Asabke Alangdi. "
Atong Asekabta said that Gregory had been denied access to his lawyers and any member of his family, stressing that "we do not know how our son is fed or what he consumes in what he eats. We believe that he is being tortured emotionally, psychologically and physically. "
He added, "We think he's tortured emotionally, psychologically and physically."
Below the statement
DECLARATION OF SANDEMA AYIETA FAMILY AT PRESS CONFERENCE HELD AT THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER IN ACCRA ON TUESDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2019
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, the media. Thank you very much for honoring our invitation at the last minute. The Ayieta family of Sandema, to which belongs Gregory Afoko, thank you very much for your presence this morning.
Allow me to remind everyone gathered here, and Ghanaians in general, that our son, Gregory Afoko, since his arrest at dawn on May 21, 2015, is being held in very trying conditions but cooperating fully with the forces of order. to ensure that justice is done in the case in which he was falsely accused and charged with the murder of the late Adams Mahama, former president of the High Patriotism (New Fatherland) region in the Upper East region East. He has since been tried before the High Court of Accra.
Since his arrest and subsequent prosecution, our son has consistently been denied bail, even when he was clearly ill and required urgent medical attention. He has been in detention with a swollen arm for some time and we hope and pray that what is afflicting him is not so serious as to have an irreversible effect on his health.
While you read in the media, especially social media, the information emanating from the court at his trial, he was heard as part of the referral procedure before the Accra Court of First Instance who l & # 39; 39 has returned to the High Court while he has maintained his innocence since his arrest.
He went through the deliberate delays, the frustrations of the adjournments and the refusal to obtain a bail in the hope that the case would reach its logical conclusion for the judgment to be rendered and that He can know his fate.
The prosecution summoned up to fourteen (14) witnesses, most of them from Bolgatanga, to testify against our son and closed the case. Gregory also opened his case and closed his case and waited for the verdict of the court.
So, ladies and gentlemen, the members of the family were shocked to read and hear in the media that in just a few days the Attorney General who was chasing our son had filed a "nolle prosequai", which the lawyers explained to us that the Attorney General had decided to end the trial, even at this very late stage! Gregory would not know his fate after a full, tortuous and prolonged four-year detention and trial.
The Minister of Information told us that the Attorney General had arrested another suspect in the case and that the Attorney General wanted to try the two men together.
The following questions crossed our minds when we talked to each other and we also asked the lawyers for clarification and clarification on the subject:
Was it not legally possible to try the new suspect alone, as was done for Gregory?
Where was the trial right after Gregory had spent all four years in prison and was retried?
Had his trial gone wrong?
Did the Attorney General anticipate the acquittal and release of Gregory and was not satisfied with it?
Is it mandatory for the two accused to be tried together?
These questions and many others flooded our minds and left us very disappointed and discouraged. We suspected that invisible hands were manipulating the court system to unfairly punish Gregory by keeping him in custody for several years.
Our suspicions were confirmed when the Minister of Information announced during his press briefing that the government would ask the Chief Justice to appoint a DEDIÉ judge for Gregory's new trial! So, the judge who kept Gregory in detention for four (4) years and who found him is not dedicated?
We think that the government is trying to manipulate the judiciary to achieve a predetermined result.
We believe that this constitutes a militarization of the judiciary.
Given the turn of events, we ask if it is really necessary to conduct a new investigation requiring the re-arrest of Gregory. Why should Gregory suffer or, in this case, any citizen of Ghana, because of the incompetence of the Attorney General? If they had not conducted an adequate investigation, why was Gregory rushed to court?
We believe that the real reason for this new arrest is to torture, intimidate and obtain involuntary confessions from Gregory and Asabke Alangdi.
Ladies and gentlemen media, as you may have heard, we asked Gregory's lawyers to use all the legal means available to challenge the fairness of the nolle prosequi filing in court competent. I am pleased to inform you that the lawyers informed us that proceedings had been initiated in the Supreme Court and other courts. I can not talk about these issues but my information is what I told you.
The sad aspect of this unfortunate event that occurred was that even before the High Court, which placed Gregory in pre-trial detention, to formally return him to prison, he was officially deported before any further arrest was possible. State security then removed Gregory from Nsawam. Medium-security prison in his underpants and threw him into the cells of the National Investigation Bureau (BNI).
State security has not allowed him and still has not allowed him to see his lawyers and / or family members. We do not know how our son is fed nor what he puts in what he eats. We believe that he is being tortured emotionally, psychologically and physically.
Ladies and gentlemen, while the lawyers are attending, we have made the decision to bring this inhuman treatment of our son to the attention of Ghanaian and international human rights organizations she also intervenes because we believe that her arrest took place. continued detention, the refusal of bail and the new trial have a political connotation.
Finally, we appeal to justice for it to reject the shameful invitation of the executive to the Chief Justice to appoint the so-called Justice DEDIÉ that the Minister of Information stated publicly. The executive of the government can not and must not be both prosecutor and judge.
Thank you again for your presence and your attention.
ROBERT ATONG ASEKABTA
Spokeswoman of the family Ayieta de Sandema
Tel: 0244105355
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