By Abass Jalloh
Lawyer Ady Macauley has on Wednesday 22nd June 2022 filed a lawsuit against the Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Michael Sovula for allegedly failing to grant bail or bring his clients to court, describing it as “illegal detention of suspects”.
Ady Macauley is the defence lawyer for Joseph Sheku Jalloh, Mohamed Jalloh (1), Mohamed Jalloh (2), Kulio Jalloh, Ibrahim Sylvanus Conteh, Abdulai Kamara, Lansana Daramy, Sai Jalloh, Farah Kargbo and Ibrahim Sorie Mansaray who are in police custody for various offences related to campaigning for a parliamentary By-election in Tonkolili Disrtict .
On the 16th of June 2022, Ady Macauley wrote a letter titled “illegal detention of suspects”, to the Inspector General of Police, that his clients (the 10 suspects) who were indigenes of Constituency 056 in Bendugu Town, Sambaia Chiefdom, in Tonkolili were arrested on 7th June 2022 on allegations of committing various public order offences.
They were initially taken to Makeni Police Division and detained but were later transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters in Freetown on 10th June 2022, where they continued to be held without bail or brought before a court of law, according to the letter.
He stated that the time limit for detaining his clients without charge or bail had not been respected by the Inspector General of Police and the Criminal Investigations Department.
Speaking to Politico, Ady Macauley stated that a summon had been served on the IG yesterday following the suit he made against him.
He said the police failed to grant bail to his clients or charge them to court, noting that “constitutionally, he [the IG] has an obligation as a police officer who has detained suspects pending investigations to either take them to a court or charge them within 10 days if they have been investigated for an offence that involves the death penalty, life imprisonment, and offences that relates to environmental or economic acts, and all other offences you must within 72 hours grant bail or charge to court”.
“It is my client’s (Joseph Sheku Jalloh) belief that he is arrested on riotous conduct which is politically motivated in the sense that he is the campaign manager for the APC candidate, Jawa Sesay, for the Parliamentary By-Election in Constituency 056, and because he is the campaign manager and the very strong person that is mobilizing support and vote for the opponent of the SLPP, that is why they have arrested him for riotous offences and brought him in Tonkolili,” he explained.
According to Macauley, section 17 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone regulates the manner in which suspects under investigation, and in police custody are treated, stating that all suspects arrested and detained pending investigations must be brought before a Court of Law or released unconditionally on reasonable conditions.
Politico could not get the head of Police Media and Public Relations, Assistant Commissioner Brima Kamara to comment on the issue and his newly appointed deputy declined to comment, saying he was yet to take office.
The National Election Watch (NEW) in a report dated 22nd June 2022 stated their findings of an investigation into the incidents. The report noted that the campaign manager for APC in the by-election Joseph Sheku Jalloh a retired lieutenant-colonel was an aspirant in the 2021 Sambaia Chiefdom Paramount Chieftaincy election, but that he lost.
It stated that the campaign manager was disqualified at the Declaration of Rights stage of the contest and that the APC campaign manager Rtd. Lt.Col. Joseph Sheku Jalloh and the 9 other candidates petitioned the election.The violence was mainly perpetrated using thugs imported into the constituency, according to NEW.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (24/06/22)
