FLASHBACK: How I defied all odds to defend man who attempted to assassinate Mahama – Sosu recounts

In October 2022, Francis-Xavier Sosu, Member of Parliament for Madina and a prominent human rights lawyer, reflected on his experiences with state prosecutors mishandling cases during his legal career.

He expressed his dismay over instances where prosecutors seemed more interested in securing convictions than ensuring a fair and just legal process.

In a candid interview on Kofi TV, Sosu recounted a specific case that raised serious questions about the conduct of prosecutors. He discussed the case of Charles Antwi, a mentally challenged individual who had made threats against the then-sitting President, John Dramani Mahama.

Sosu explained, "When he was arrested, the media reported it as a failed assassination attempt on the president, both locally and internationally. It became a significant issue."

He went on to reveal that there was a rush to address the matter, with even National Security personnel visiting Antwi's home. They learned that the suspect would tie his leg to his bicycle before sleeping due to his psychiatric issues. Antwi had fled from a traditional healer to Accra and subsequently attempted to harm the president. Unfortunately, many of these crucial facts were not presented in court during the trial.

Sosu noted that when he decided to take on the case after Antwi had already received a 10-year prison sentence, he faced threats and challenges. He explained, "Everybody was afraid. If you were an NPP lawyer and chose to represent the case, you'd be accused of defending a potential assassin of the President."

Read the full story originally published on October 5, 2022

Francis-Xavier Sosu, Member of Parliament for Madina and a human rights lawyer has recounted how state prosecutors more often than not mess up cases assigned to them.

He lamented that during the days he was fully practicing law, there were a litany of instances where prosecutors acted in ways that pointed to the fact that they were only bent on having accused persons jailed for reasons best known to them.

In recounting one such experience in an interview on Kofi TV, Sosu spoke about how prosecutors went as far as having a mentally challenged person, one Charles Antwi, jailed 10 years.

This was a man who had threatened to assassinate the then sitting president John Dramani Mahama. “When he was arrested, media reported it as failed assassination on the president in local and international media. It became a very huge issue.

“So, people were in a hurry to deal with the issue, so even National Security personnel who visited his home knew that the suspect ties his leg to his bike before sleeping. Due to his psychiatric issues, he run away from a traditional healer to Accra and immediately attempted to kill the president. All those facts were not available to the judge,” he said.

According to him, when he opted to take the case after the 10-year term had been handed down, he received threats but that he did not waver. “Everybody was afraid. If you are an NPP lawyer and decide to take the case, you’ll be accused of wanting to kill the President, hence defending his potential assassin.

“If you are an NDC lawyer, it will be deemed that you don’t like the former president… so everybody went dead, but I knew that there was something wrong with the whole system,” he revealed before opting to take on the case.

Sosu said he went behind the scenes, did research, spoke to senior lawyers, the Attorney General and other leads submitting that that there was something wrong, “so I had to take it up as a human rights lawyer. People called and threatened me that I won’t get to become an NDC MP again. But it was about the conviction. Standing for what is right, the truth is naked but people don’t like the naked truth.

“So, I led the way to court and Justice Kwabea called for a mental reexamination and based on that quashed the 10-year sentence,” he told Kofi Adomah, the show host.

He said Charles Owusu was sent to BNI after the judgment and “I went back and forth for his final release. His family from Kumasi brought me GHC200, I looked at it and thanked them but asked them to use it for transport back to Kumasi.”