Military brutality at Ashaiman unconstitutional, officers must be tried – OccupyGhana

Pressure group, OccupyGhana, has condemned the recent actions of the military, describing it as “absolutely unconstitutional and unlawful” following brutalities at Ashaiman over the murder of a young soldier, Imoro Sheriff. 

The group joins the likes of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and other individuals who have spoken against the raid by soldiers last week at Ashaiman. 

“What has become apparent is that the entire action by the military was purely and simply in retaliation against the people of Ashiaman for a crime committed by a few people. Any powers of arrest that the military may claim to have, is no different from the arrest powers of any citizen of this country, as regulated by the Constitution. 

The Constitution demands ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the specific person arrested has committed an offence. A mass swoop that occurs days after an offence, and detains as many as 184 people cannot be based on any suspicion that each of them had committed the offence. Thus, the military unjustifiably violated the constitutional right to due process of every person they detained,” it said in a statement. 

Calling for military personnel who where involved in the Ashaiman incident to face some form of legal action, the statement further notes that highr ranks of the military who authorised those actions must also be tried. 

 “Second, officers and supervisors who endorsed the acts after they happened must resign. Third, the High Command of the military must apologise to everyone the military subjected to these violations. And, fourth, the state must compensate each affected person.”

Background

22-year-old Imoro Sheriff, a soldier with the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) band in Sunyani, the Bono Region was stabbed to death by unknown attackers on March 4, 2023. 

According to police investigations, the soldier was returning from his girlfriend’s house in Ashaiman-Taifa and heading toward his residence when the unfortunate incident occurred.

All six suspects were arrested in the course of investigations and then remanded to police custody.