Kwesi Pratt Jnr
Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has defended the former National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, Freddie Blay, over his law firm taking up the challenge to defend some persons believed to be Chinese nationals and arrested along with galamsey queen, Aisha Huang. The immediate past National Chairman says that his law firm, Blay & Associates, is not offering any legal representation for Aisha Huang in the illegal mining case before the Accra Criminal High Court 5. According to him, Blay & Associates are only representing Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi, all Chinese nationals, and a fourth accused person, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a Vietnamese national who he claims are wrongfully accused. In an interview on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo" on Thursday, October 13, 2022, he explained his four clients "were arrested in their homes in Kumasi; one is even married to a Ghanaian and they operate a supermarket and so he pleaded with me to represent them. Per his (friend) explanation, there might have been a mistake or an issue of stereotyping and so I instructed my office to make a representation to defend them". Freddie Blay has however come under intense criticisms with his critics strongly opining that he is defending illegal miners. Responding to the criticisms, Mr. Pratt has sought to find out the crime that Mr. Blay and his law firm may have committed even if they were defending a criminal. He noted that lawyers are bound by their legal code to defend every person no matter the crime he or she commits. To him, Blay & Associates are not doing anything out of blue. "I don't agree with them. I don't agree at all because every person who knows the law knows that even a murderer is entitled to legal defence. A person who we all can see has stabbed someone to death is entitled to legal defence." "What crime do you commit in this world that you are not entitled to legal defence?", the Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper queried. He stressed; "Whatever crime you commit, you are entitled to legal defence and if you are entitled to legal defence, it means a lawyer must defend you." "For a lawyer to refuse to defend your case, he must have sufficient reasonable grounds in law . . . everybody is presumed innocent until convicted," he expounded. Kwesi Pratt made these submissions on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show Friday morning.
Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has defended the former National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, Freddie Blay, over his law firm taking up the challenge to defend some persons believed to be Chinese nationals and arrested along with galamsey queen, Aisha Huang. The immediate past National Chairman says that his law firm, Blay & Associates, is not offering any legal representation for Aisha Huang in the illegal mining case before the Accra Criminal High Court 5. According to him, Blay & Associates are only representing Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi, all Chinese nationals, and a fourth accused person, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a Vietnamese national who he claims are wrongfully accused. In an interview on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo" on Thursday, October 13, 2022, he explained his four clients "were arrested in their homes in Kumasi; one is even married to a Ghanaian and they operate a supermarket and so he pleaded with me to represent them. Per his (friend) explanation, there might have been a mistake or an issue of stereotyping and so I instructed my office to make a representation to defend them". Freddie Blay has however come under intense criticisms with his critics strongly opining that he is defending illegal miners. Responding to the criticisms, Mr. Pratt has sought to find out the crime that Mr. Blay and his law firm may have committed even if they were defending a criminal. He noted that lawyers are bound by their legal code to defend every person no matter the crime he or she commits. To him, Blay & Associates are not doing anything out of blue. "I don't agree with them. I don't agree at all because every person who knows the law knows that even a murderer is entitled to legal defence. A person who we all can see has stabbed someone to death is entitled to legal defence." "What crime do you commit in this world that you are not entitled to legal defence?", the Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper queried. He stressed; "Whatever crime you commit, you are entitled to legal defence and if you are entitled to legal defence, it means a lawyer must defend you." "For a lawyer to refuse to defend your case, he must have sufficient reasonable grounds in law . . . everybody is presumed innocent until convicted," he expounded. Kwesi Pratt made these submissions on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show Friday morning.
