Bar marks 17th anniversary of judges' murder

Accra (Greater Accra) 2nd July ?99

The 17th anniversary remembrance service for three High Court Judges and an army officer was held in Accra on Wednesday with a call to start a healing process to rid the nation of violence.

The three judges, Fred Poku Sarkodee, Mrs Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, and Major Sam Acquah were abducted and killed in June 1982.

The Rev. Dr Robert Aboagye-Mensah, General-Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, made the call in a sermon under the theme, ''Reconciliation - The Healing of our Nation''.

The annual service was organised by the "Ghana Bar Association".

Reconciliation is not trying to achieve cheap and hasty peace by asking people to forget about the past violent history or put the past behind them and begin afresh, he said.

Rev. Aboagye-Mensah said although the memory of the past history is real and painful, it is important to take the suffering and pains of the victims seriously rather than treat them with contempt.

He said the healing process begins not by trying to cover up and ignore the causes of violence, but by identifying and confronting them in love.

While human beings expect that the perpetrators of evil are the ones who should begin the reconciliation process, "the biblical understanding of reconciliation is that it is God, the one we human beings have sinned against, who initiates and carries through the process of reconciliation.

"The initiator of the process of reconciliation is the victim - God. The truth of Christian understanding of reconciliation is that it is the sinned against who must first receive God's forgiveness because he is the one whose human identity and dignity has been twisted and tortured by the violence".

Rev. Aboagye-Mensah said as the victim of violence receives God's grace and love, he is then able to bring God's forgiveness and love to the perpetrator of violence so that the oppressor also prompted by the same grace and love is able to repent.

"Reconciliation is not something that we can force people to do. It comes by people coming to their senses like the prodigal son in the Bible.

"To share in God's reconciliation, there must be a public demonstration of repentance and forgiveness."

Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Past President of the Ghana Bar Association, recounting what happened in 1982, said the crime of which the three Judges were adjudged guilty was their "singular and unswerving dedication to the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice".

He said it is a tragic irony that while they kept faith to their judicial oaths, by doing justice to all manner-of- persons without fear or favour, affection or ill will, they themselves were not accorded any trial.

Mr Adjetey re-affirmed the Association's pledge to commend and hold in high esteem judicial courage, honesty, fairness, impartiality and total commitment of all judges to their oaths.

Present at the service were Mr Isaac K. Abban, Chief Justice and some members of Parliament.

In another development, Mr Kwabena Agyepong, an engineer, on Wednesday accused the authorities of deliberately turning deaf ears to calls to reopen inquiry into the murder of three high court judges and an army officer 17 years ago.

Mr Agyepong, son of murdered Justice Kwadwo Agyepong, was speaking at a press conference just after a remembrance service organised by the Ghana Bar Association.

He said the continuous silence of the authorities and their refusal to respond to his various statements, means to achieve his goal, he "must move from press statements to more concrete, specific legal action".

Mr Agyepong said as the years pass, evidence accumulates, which, if true, indicates that a serious miscarriage of justice occurred in the investigation and conduct of the case.

"I will not let this matter rest until everything is known. I am even more determined because of the latest information I have received".

Mr Agyepong alleged that L/Cpl. S. K. Amedeka, who was described by the Special Investigation Board (SIB) as "head of the execution squad" wrote to the President and his wife seeking financial help from them.

He recalled that during Halidu Gyiwa's abortive coup on June 19, 1983, L/Cpl. Amedeka, escaped from prison whilst awaiting trial following the SIB report.

Amedeka was subsequently tried, convicted and sentenced to death in absentia in connection with the murders.