Tsikata to appear before African Commission

Accra, May 25, GNA - The African Commission on Human and People's Right has fixed Sunday, May 27, 2007 to hear a case filed by Mr. Tsatus Tsikata against the Government of Ghana.

The case, 322/2006 is among a number of cases the Commission would deal with between May 25 and 27 during its private sessions. Other nationals from Kenya, Gabon, Cammeroon, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Botswana, and Egypt would also appear before the Commission.

According to the Commission, Mr Tsikata filed a case against the Government of Ghana in April 2006 on alleged violations of his rights under the African Charter Human and People's Rights.

Mr. Tsikata had accused the Government of using legislation retroactively to charge him with an offence that was not a crime at the relevant time, was being denied a fair trail by being denied the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

He also claimed that Government had been compromising the independence of the Judiciary as part of "an irrevocable determination" to have him found guilty "by hook or by crook...without any reference to the facts and legal issues."