Ho Court dismisses bail application by 21 arrested LGBT activists
The Ho High Court has refused the application for bail filed by the 21 persons who were arrested over LGBT associations
The twenty-one persons who were arrested in Ho on the charge of unlawful assembly have been denied bail by a Ho Circuit Court.
They were arrested after a joint team of journalists and the police swooped in on them at a community empowerment meeting earlier in May this year. The participants were receiving training on how to tackle human rights violations by members of the LGBT community.
The PRO of the Volta Regional Police, Sergeant Prince Dogbatse is reported to have stated that the suspects possessed materials and resources that encourage homosexuality.
“…there is an agenda by these people to propagate the LGBTQ behavior. For now, we have referred to the preliminary charge of unlawful assembly and while we continue our investigation,” Sgt. Dogbatse is reported to have stated.
The Reuters report that a lawyer for the defendants, Julia Selman Ayetey claims that the bail application was refused without any details. Before this dismissal by the Circuit Court, the Ho High Court had also denied an application for bail made by the arrested 21 persons.
The social media campaign, #Releasethe21 continues to generate attention on the microblogging platform, Twitter, and other social media platforms.