Alleged ‘Western Togo’ secessionists arrested

General news for Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Source: 3 News

2020-09-29

A circuit court in Accra has held the 31 suspects in Friday’s alleged separatist riots in BNI custody for two weeks.

They face five provisional charges including conspiracy to attend prohibited gatherings, illegal gatherings and riots.

The defendants’ guilty plea was not taken when they appeared in circuit court number two on Monday, September 28.

They were charged with provisional charges of conspiracy to attend a meeting of a prohibited organization; illegal gathering, gathering under the forbidden name of organization and riots.

The prosecution led by ASP Sylvester Asare asked the court to return the defendants to allow further investigations into Friday’s incident.

She maintained that they were required by law to present them to her court knowing full well that she lacked jurisdiction since the incident occurred in the Volta region.

The attorney for the 31 defendants, Theophanous Donkor, opposed the indictment.

According to him, the 48-hour provision has already been abused, so the defendant’s claim must be taken.

Counsel further argued that the preferred provisional indictment against the defendants disregarded the geographic jurisprudence of the case adduced by the indictment.

Theophanous Donkor ended his argument with a request for bail, insisting that the prosecution should have gone to district court if it really takes jurisdiction into account.

But ASP Asare argued that the bond should not be considered at this stage as it will compromise the investigation.

Rosemary Baa Torsu conceded the accusation without considering the argument of both parties.

She sent the 31 accused persons, including a 19-year-old girl, into the custody of BNI to reappear on Monday, October 13 at 9:00 a.m.

Furthermore, it ordered the police and BNI to allow access to the defendants’ lawyers and also guarantee their well-being while they were in detention.