By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Defense lawyers at the military tribunal presently trying 14 soldiers of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces have argued that their clients have no case before the court and that they should be “acquitted and discharged”.
The four defense counsels, whiles making their separate no-case submissions on behalf of the incarcerated soldiers on different dates in September and October, urged presiding Judge Advocate Otto During to “discharge the soldiers because the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt”.
The defense team had called on the Court Martial to acquit and discharge the soldiers because “the accused had no case to answer to before the court”.
During their submission last week, lead defense counsel Julius Nye Cuffie, who entreated the court on behalf of five of the imprisoned soldiers, said that “the prosecution failed to prove that the accused persons plotted and participated in any mutiny as there is no evidence of any overt activity that took place between 6-10 last year”.
He added that nothing happened at any other time whatsoever, that the court martial could “objectively interpret to mean mutiny in the legal sense of the word”. Cuffie pointed out that there was “absolutely no evidence before the court to support the charge of conspiracy or to prove that the accused persons did attend any secret meeting anywhere whatsoever”.
He said it was clear that all what was before the court was “unfounded rumors” about a secret meeting allegedly held at the St. Andrew Secondary School, Wusum Field and at the Other Ranks Canteen. He said there was no evidence to show that any meeting was held at both St. Andrew School and Wusum Field, “let alone secret meetings”.
He said the only meeting that was ever held at the Other Ranks Canteen received the approval of the “top bras” of the Army at 4th Battalion at Teko Barracks in Makeni. He said that was not a secret meeting as it was also attended by the “top bras” at the barracks, adding that it was geared towards fundraising for the refurbishment of the Other Ranks Canteen.
The defense lawyer accused the police of carrying out an “arm-chair investigation” in that they failed to investigate all alibis raised by the soldiers. Instead, he went on, “the investigators stayed back in their offices and charged the matter based on what the accused persons told them”. He said they never bothered to visit the alleged crime scenes to collect data for themselves.
He urged the court to “discountenance the shabby case made by the prosecution and rule in favor of the defense”.
Another defense lawyer, Thomas Beah, described the evidence of all eleven witnesses called in by the prosecution as “self-contradictory, weak, vague and inconsistent”.
Ishmael Philip Mamie also stated that the prosecution, led by state prosecutor, Gerald Soyei, eluded their responsibility to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, adding “we therefore believe that we have no case to answer and we implore this honorable court to acquit and discharge the accused persons”.
Roberts Kowa, whiles submitting on behalf of the 14th accused, Capt. Prince Sesay (the only Captain amongst the 14), said his client had no knowledge of any soldier intending to mutiny or a mutiny taking place which would have warranted the Captain to discharge his duty to report on such mutiny.
The prosecution is expected to reply to all the submissions on November 7 and a date may be set for final submissions and subsequently a ruling or judgment date.
Arrested and imprisoned in August of last year, the 14 soldiers were alleged to have been planning to mutiny at Teko Barracks in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone. They faced an eight count charge of conspiracy, mutiny, failure to suppress mutiny and incitement to mutiny. They denied all allegations but have been since been in prison at Pademba Road in Freetown.
(C) Politico 14/10/14
