Refrain from posting hateful and offensive statements against judges – Lawyers of Ghana Judicial Service Caution Press

Lawyers for Ghana’s Judicial Service have warned all media in the country to refrain from publishing hateful, indecent and offensive statements against judges.

Their concern, they say, “stems from the posting and / or permission to post a series of inflammatory, hateful and offensive statements, and speeches on their various platforms against the judges.”

“This concern has been exacerbated by the wave of statements and speeches addressed to the judges of our clients, in particular after the start of the hearing of the election petition in the trial entitled John Dramani Mahama against Election Commission and Nana Addo,” said the press release.

In the letter to all media in the country, the legal adviser noted that the publication of hateful and offensive stories against the referees threatened democracy and the peaceful nature of the country.

He further stated that some of these “publications directly imply that the decisions of the judges presiding over the case are motivated by factors outside of legal principles and proper judicial review.”

The fact that “the statements and speeches therefore clearly imply that … the decisions are motivated by factors of corruption and devoid of any legal justification and / or reasoning is another concern of the judges.”

He therefore warned the media that these “statements and speeches interfere with the proper administration of justice, because our client’s judges are threatened with worrying consequences following their decisions which do not meet the expectations of certain members of society.

“Statements and speeches bring the administration of justice into disrepute, as unsuspecting Ghanaians are deliberately misinformed and manipulated into believing that the justice system is perverted and lacks credibility,” the letter read.

In conclusion, he drew the attention of the media to the Ghanaian population which “consists largely of uneducated or not very well informed people”, as such “there is a need to have a stricter view of the critics that we can grant to justice. “, Because” although the administration of justice must suffer from the respect [not inciteful, hateful or spiteful] comments from ordinary men, it should not be disturbed and / or litigated ”.