Barker-Vormawor sues police service
Police deny torture against #FixTheCountry activist
The Ghana Police Service has admitted planting a stranger in an Ashaiman cell when #FixTheCountry convenor, Oliver Barker-Vormawor was arrested and detained.
According to the police, the decision to plant a “stranger” in the cell formed part of its standard protocol for extracting information from cell inmates.
The admission by the police as reported by the Fourth Estate confirms an allegation by the activist that the police planted a stranger in his cell when he was detained following his arrest at the Kotoka International Airport on February 11, 2022.
“To gather information on cell remands, informants are sometimes planted in the cells. The informant was not placed in the cells to harm the applicant,” the report cited court documents filed by the police in response to a suit instigated by the activist.
Among his allegations against the police, Barker-Vormawor said he was tortured and had his rights abused when he was arrested by the police.
In his statement of claim, the #FixTheCountry activist said on February 13, 2022, when he was taken into custody, a muscular and heavily-built man was brought into the cells he was kept in.
When the cell leaders inquired from the man what had brought him into custody, the man claimed he was an importer who had been arrested for issuing a dud cheque.
Some moments after, the activist said the commander of the Ashaiman Police Station brought the said inmate an “exceptionally heavy” loaf of bread which was later discovered contained a “penknife and a mobile phone.”
This he said was after he (Barker-Vormawor) had raised suspicions about the “stranger.”
The police in response to the claims admitted that a cell phone was found after Mr Barker-Vormawor instigated the cell inmates to break the bread but denied that it contained a pen-knife.
“It is untrue that there was a hidden pen-knife in the loaf of bread given to the informant,” the police’s affidavit in opposition said.
According to the activist, the man was a hired assassin who was sent to harm him. But the police denied the allegation.
Barker-Vormawor was arrested after he made a post on Facebook stating, “If this E-Levy passes I will do the coup myself. Useless Army!”
Upon arriving in the country from the United Kingdom where he is pursuing a PhD, he was arrested, detained and charged with treason felony.
But according to him, the decision by the police to wait more than 48 hours before putting him before a court without granting him bail violated his rights.
“By bringing me to the Ashaiman District Magistrate Court when they knew that a District Magistrate Court does not have the jurisdiction to consider the question of my personal liberty, the respondents, their agents, officials or assigns or work men have violated my right to administrative justice and to personal liberty,” he has asked a court to declare in his favour.
He states as part of his claims that, the decision by the Ashaiman District court to commit him to remand and police custody while declining jurisdiction of the case violated his “rights to legal protection”.
He also wants the court to declare as violations of his rights and personal liberty, the assault, violence, threats of harm, threats of death, harassment, and slaps administered to him by the police during his detention.
Meanwhile, the state is still pursuing charges of treason felony against the #FixTheCountry convenor.
Meanwhile, GhanaWeb is accepting nominations for the prestigious GhanaWeb Excellence Awards – Youth Edition. Watch how you can nominate from the video below.
GA/WA
Barker-Vormawor named IGP, Dr Akuffo Dampare as a respondent in his suit