Lawyers for #FixTheCountry Movement convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, have filed an application for bail at the Tema High Court.
This comes days after the Supreme Court struck out a case filed by the lawyers and questioned why they were not taking the more pragmatic step of seeking bail.
The youth activist was arrested at the Kotoko International Airport on February 11 and has since been slapped with the charge of Treason Felony by state prosecutors at the Ashaiman District Court.
His lawyers made a request for bail but the court ruled it lacked the mandate under the law to grant such a request. Circuit Court judge Eleanor Botwe, who’s hearing the case as an additional District Magistrate, urged the legal team to make an application for bail at the High Court.
The team headed to the High Court but filed a habeas corpus application challenging his detention and demanding that he be released.
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The Tema High Court, presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah, dismissed the application urging the lawyers to make a bail request.
The lawyers, however, filed a motion seeking to set aside the Tema High Court decision at the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court Panel presided over by Justice Jones Dotse questioned the motive of the lawyers saying they were engaged in an intellectual exercise when the liberty of an individual was at stake.
They also urged the lawyers to put in a bail request. Deputy Attorney General, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, assured the state may not oppose such an application. A statement issued by the #FixTheCountry group says an application for bail has been filed.
“In all these sessions, however, the courts have told Oliver one and only one thing which is contrary to Article 14(3)b) of the Constitution – that he rather should take his detainers to the court which has jurisdiction to ensure his right to personal liberty.
By that, it is now well-established that the constitutional duty of the police to bring persons they have arrested to a court of competent jurisdiction no longer exists. That duty is now on the individual to perform.
Accordingly, Oliver has agreed to perform that duty. He has signed the affidavit in support of an application for bail at the High Court.
“The application has since been filed and will be heard on Thursday, March 10, 2022, at the Tema High,” the statement noted.
