PRESS RELEASE :ASEPA COMMENDS JUSTICE ATUGUBA AND THE SUPREME COURT FOR LANDMARK RULING ON ACCESS TO PROSECUTION DOCUMENTS

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ASEPA wishes to use this medium to commend the Supreme Court of Ghana especially the Justice William Atuguba panel that gave a landmark verdict on Thursday, June 6, 2018 asking the Attorney General to make available all prosecution documents in any criminal trial to the Accused Person or the Defense party.

One of the things we have always been advocating for as a human rights group in the country is the Enforcement of the right of every Ghanaian citizen to a fair trial.

Access to prosecution documents has always been a problem for defense parties, Not Just prosecution documents but also Prosecution witness statements and Prosecution exhibits which forms an integral part of any trial and goes a long to even have an impact on the judgment were all not available for defense parties to properly prepare their responses which naturally disadvantaged them.

We have always held the view that the apparent lack of access to prosecution documents by defense parti was an impediment to Article 19 of the 1992 constitution which espouses the right to a fair trial.

This single decision by the Supreme Court will go a long way to affirm Ghana’s position as the hub of rule of law in the sub region, it will also provide a massive improvement in our Justice delivery system and also reduces drastically the severity of mistakes judges make in their judgments, and so therefore we commend the panel especially Justice William Atuguba for his excellent judicial leadership.

His rulings in the Supreme Court has been very consistent and mostly less contentious and in conformity with the Local and International practices. Most of the contentious rulings in the Supreme Court have always been by panels without Justice William Atuguba and we believe that his presence on the Supreme Court bench has been very worthwhile and the legal system has benefitted immensely from his legal illumination.

We hope that as he prepares to retire he is replaced with another of his kind to help develop and improve the justice delivery system in the country.

We also entreat the Attorney General to as a matter of urgency take steps to implement/enforce this order by the Supreme Court so that the fundamental human rights of Ghanaians in respect of Access to fair trial will be very protected.

We also call on Judges to ensure that State prosecutors adhere to this basic but important order by the Supreme Court.

Kudos to Justice William Atuguba

cc.
The Chief Justice
Attorney General
The Judicial Council
Ghana Association of Judges/Magistrates
The General Legal council
Ghana Bar Association
All Media Houses

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