By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Judge Advocate in the on-going trial at the Court Martial involving 14 soldiers on alleged mutiny yesterday assured the defence that “justice and fairness will prevail throughout this trial.”
Otto During, however, warned defence counsel Abdul Philip Mamie to exercise restraint so the trial could proceed smoothly.
He was speaking after state prosecutor, Gerard Soyei, had made an application that the sixth accused, Private Samba Sheku, had confessed that “he was guilty as charged to have planned to commit mutiny”.
Soyei referred to a voluntary caution statement, which the accused had made to the police, evidentially “Exhibit GG-1-52.” He further referred as “a song of revolution” to a document labelled “Exhibit JJ-1-2,” which contained a composition of lyrics by the said accused.
The prosecuting counsel disclosed that the issue of revolutionary music arose in his submission because the accused had alleged in his statement to the police that he was a musician, and that he had implicated himself when he admitted to such in his statement.
“It is wrong for a soldier to sing revolutionary songs” the prosecutor quoted the sixth accused as saying.
Soyei therefore argued in his submission that “JJ-1-2” were never lyrics of any song or music but rather evidence of the sixth accused person’s participation in “operation awareness or mutiny” as alleged in the charge sheet.
The prosecutor directed the attention of the judge advocate to the argument put forward by the defence in which the counsel had cited Section 25(1) Act No. 6 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone bordering on freedom of expression.
The prosecutor said the accused had exercised that right in connection with Exhibit JJ-1-2, which Soyei argued was documentary evidence of mutiny by the accused.
“This is the extent to which Section 25(1) does not save the accused,” Soyei said, arguing that the section was not a defence for mutiny.
Defence counsel Mamie objected to the submission of the prosecuting counsel in its entirety, arguing that he was supposed to have served the defence a copy of the submission before going to court. He said that would have enabled him to effectively argue the prosecutor. He also expressed concerns over distortion of evidence by the prosecutor as “I know the person I am dealing with.” He said, “Since we rely mainly on the records of the stenographer, it will be a problem for the court if there is any distortion of evidence.”
The Judge upheld the objection of the defence, and warned the prosecutor to follow the established rules of legal practice, adding that the Bench was there to be fair.
Arrested in August this year, the 14 soldiers were being tried at the Court Martial of the Republic of Sierra Leone for the offences of conspiracy to commit mutiny and failure to suppress mutiny.
The accused persons denied all charges.
The matter was adjourned to Monday 8 December, 2014.
© Politico 04
