"The Treason Trial Of 1986" Book Launched

Torture & Execution

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Accra Mail (Accra) Yesterday, a book was launched in Accra that would no doubt throw more light on the administration of "injustice" during the PNDC era and add to the debate on National Reconciliation. "THE TREASON TRIAL OF 1986. Torture and Revolutionary Injustice" compiled and edited by George Agyekum, a one time Tribunal Chairman itself hints at "injustice" and makes compelling reading.

It Chronicles Case No. 6/86, The People Vrs. Godwin Kofi Dra-Goka, Yaw Brefo-Berko, Kyereme Djan, Samuel Boamah Panyin, Atta Panyin, Kululu, Ahmed Denteh Braimah Kankani, Kwame Agyeman Budu, Aflanko, Frank Goka, Eric Goka, Papa Yaw Krobo Edusei, No 175902 WOII Samuel Charles Lartey Aforo, No. 178131 Pte. Charles Koomson, Evelyn Esi Goka and Esinam Adjei.

Mr. George Agyekum was Chairman of the Tribunal that tried them and assisted by two others, WOII Mumuni Seidu and Madam Comfort Afua Do.

They were accused of, in a lay man's language, having tried to overthrow the government of the PNDC. Some were acquitted for lack of evidence and others found guilty and condemned to death and the sentence carried out.

The case caught the public fancy at the time because some of the accused at their trial reported that their human rights had been grossly violated as a result of the terrible torture they received from their captors while awaiting trial.

In the introduction to the book Mr. Agyekum states, "Our ruling was that whereas we agreed to the facts of intense assaults, mock executions etc, these illegal acts were not condoned by the BNI which was the investigating authority and the evidence of torture solely rested with the commandos led by RSM Jack Bebli. They take criminal responsibility under the law. It is interesting to note that from the evidence of the 1st accused, the reason for the torture was not to extract a confession, to the commandos, the sin of the 1st accused was, as an Ewe, to conspire with Ashantis to overthrow an Ewe government..." This was in response to an Amnesty International critique on the trials, parts of which he disagreed with, but he agreed with Amnesty "that those responsible should be punished but it was also true that those to hand out the investigation and punishment were the same persons responsible for those actions. Why say so? The BNI Director was a Police Commissioner. The most senior of those who took the suspects away was an RSM. If an RSM could enter a well fortified institution as the BNI and the Police Information Room and take away suspects, not only once or twice but on several occasions with impunity, any reasonable man should know the source of where the culprits drew their power from. Did they expect the people to cut their nose to spite their face? To be frank, Peter Nanfuri [the Director and later IGP] after the trial had bitterly complained to me about the activities of the commandos and how they were powerless to restrain them."

Mr. Agyekum explains the motive of the book in these words, "In view of reports by Amnesty International, Africa Watch and the media on the trial and circumstances surrounding this case, especially allegations of torture and the alleged refusal of the trial tribunal to allow the accused persons to call witnesses in their own defence, I deem it fit and in the public interest that the full proceedings of the trial is published, to enable the public to access the record. This work is not meant to justify the trial or otherwise, than just to state the evidence to enable legal experts and other human rights activists to put the trial on an objective scrutiny and assessment."

But it is more than that. It provides an insight into some of the acts of commission and omission indemnified by the 4th Republican Constitution, and which perhaps with a lot of justification Ghana's National Reconciliation Act is trying to unravel.

Mawuli Goka, who was the first accused reported the following allegation of torture in his statement to the tribunal, "I was sent into a room where I was instructed to sit on the floor and they started beating me with what appeared like a barbed wire because I could feel it pricking me. The beating went on for about an hour then I felt Kyereme had been brought into the room because I heard his voice. I was told to remove my shirt so my handcuffs were opened. I removed my shirt and sat down. Later I was told to open my mouth and something that tasted like meat, raw meat, was put in my mouth. Prior to that Kyereme was shouting that his back was being cut. All this while, they had not asked us anything. After that I was given something to drink and it tasted like and smelt like urine. I was kicked into abdomen. My private part was burned in the process. I lost control of myself and urinated. Kyereme and I were told to lick the urine, which we did... My private part was taken and the tip of it was slashed to maker it longer..."

Sadly, both Goka and Kyereme, after all that ordeal, were executed and today, even as Ghanaians are trying to come to terms with who did what in those dark days, some politicians think such things are of no consequence.

George Agyekum himself later fell out with the system and later had harrowing stories of his own to tell about how attempts were made on his life. He narrates a "personal experience" of how he was arrested in February 1982 and but for his incredible luck, would have been among the first casualties of the treason called the 31st December Revolution, which one of Ghana's main opposition political parties takes inspiration from. Any wonder then, why they want to dilute the import of the Reconciliation Act?