GBA, lawyer to take up case of President’s ‘assassin’
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and a human rights public interest lawyer have indicated their willingness to offer free legal services to Charles Antwi, the 36-year-old man convicted in the absence of legal representation for possessing a pistol without licence.
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While the GBA also declared its readiness to render free services to any Ghanaian whose rights had been violated by the courts, Mr
Francis Xavier Sosu, said he would be heading to the Human Rights High Court where he would ask for the decision of the Circuit Court to be quashed.
The GBA and Mr Sosu gave their indication in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
Background
Charles Antwi was apprehended on July 25, 2015, during a church service at the Ringway Gospel Centre branch of the Assemblies of God Church where President John Mahama and his family worship regularly.
State prosecutors put him before the Accra Circuit Court on July 28, 2015 for a remand warrant but the presiding judge, Mr Francis Obiri, convicted and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment after he confessed to attempting to kill the President.
His incarceration has sparked public outcry with some claiming he was not of sound mind based on the demeanour he put up in court.
His family members have also moved from one media platform to another asserting that Antwi had a history of mental illness.
GBA
In an interview in Accra today, the Public Relations Officer of the GBA, Mr Tony Forson, said the association at its council meeting last Thursday agreed that justice was not served on Antwi.
He said it was clear from narrations on what transpired in court that Antwi needed a lawyer and psychiatric evaluation.
“It was, therefore, decided that my law firm should take up the matter and render pro-bono services to Antwi, if he so desires.
The council went on further to challenge all regional presidents of the GBA to check if any of such violations had occurred to enable the GBA to offer similar services,” Mr Forson explained.
Protection of human rights, Mr Forson said, was one of the core principles of the GBA.
Sosu’s position
Mr Sosu, for his part, told the Daily Graphic that “if the person was mentally unwell, then the judge should not have dealt with him the way he did.
He said he would be heading to the Human Rights High Court where he would ask for the decision of the Circuit Court to be quashed.
Towards that end, Mr Sosu said he would be having a meeting with the family of Antwi within the week and would file the application once the necessary medical documents were set.
Personally, he said, he had conducted some investigations and could conclude that the convict was mentally unwell.
“I don’t believe the assassination theory. I believe the guy is not mentally stable and must be treated as such. I was with him at the BNI cells and he kept on saying a lot of things that did not make any sense,” he said.
According to him, the whole story of Antwi wanting to assassinate the President was a “media-created plot,” and asked: “Who in his right senses will say he was there to kill the President?”
Related developments
Meanwhile, two mental health organisations have called on the state to reopen the case of Charles Antwi.
The organisations are also asking the state to provide the incarcerated man with legal aid and critically examine his mental status before reopening the case.
The call was contained in a statement jointly signed by Mr Badimak Peter Yaro, Executive Director of BasicNeeds-Ghana, and Mr Humphrey Matey Kofie, Executive Secretary of Mental Health Society of Ghana (MEHSOG).
