Refusal of Bail to Democracy Hub Demo An Abuse of Judicial Discretion- Alan

The leader of the Movement for Change and Alliance for Revolutionary Change, Alan Kyerematen has condemned the decision of the Circuit Court in Accra to remand 54 arrested protesters belonging to the Democracy Hub pressure group as an abuse of judicial discretion.

Speaking at a presser on September 29, 2024, he criticized the judiciary.

“The refusal of the Presiding Judges to admit the accused persons to bail, in a criminal case in the nature of a misdemeanor, in my very respectful opinion, is an abuse of judicial discretion, on the firm grounds of constitutional law, human rights, judicial practice, and decided cases.”

Alan also criticized the police and Attorney General respectively for alleged human rights breaches and frivolous charges levelled against the accused persons.

“Let us all be clear that it is within the constitutional rights of any and every Ghanaian, to express freely their opinions, and to assemble in pursuit of this constitutional right of freedom of expression and movement.

“In this regard, it is offensive to proper conduct and practice of criminal prosecution, for the Police and the Attorney General’s Office, to bring charges of ‘conspiracy to commit a crime and committing crime in the nature of unlawful assembly,’ when the police was aware that the demonstration would take place, and did not take judicial steps to stop it. In any event, it is beyond my wildest imagination to believe, how the Ghana Police Service, could have supervised a demonstration for a continuous period of 3 days, and thereafter, bring charges of ‘Unlawful Assembly’.”

That notwithstanding, Alan patted the police for their professional display in the control of the crowd during the protest and admitted the faults of the protesters.

Forty-two protesters who joined the demonstration against illegal mining which started on September 21 and ended on September 23, were arrested by the police on the second day. In all, over 50 were arrested during and after the protest.

According to a statement by the police, the demonstrators unlawfully assembled at the 37 Intersection and attacked Police officers performing their lawful duties.

It said they entered a Police vehicle, removed the ignition key and threw it away, pushing down Police crash barriers, “obstructing traffic, causing unlawful damage, and disturbing the peace among others”.

They were all arraigned in court last week and were refused bail, to reappear in two weeks.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini