Judges' murder: Rawlings should have been properly investigated - Acquitted soldier

A documentary – Who killed the judges – which aired in 2018, detailed how the three High Court - Justices Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, Poku Sarkodie and Cecelia Koranteng-Addow and Samuel Acquah, a retired Major in the Ghana Armed Forces, were abducted and shot dead.

Had it not been for a downpour that night of June 30, 1982, their bodies, which were set on fire, would have been burnt to ashes.

What all three judges had in common was that they had reviewed cases of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), an earlier military regime led by Rawlings.

The military officer, Major Acquah who was killed alongside the judges, was involved in the dismissal of Amartey Kwei, a member of the PNDC from Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) for partaking in a Rawlings-instigated protest.

The soldiers sentenced to death and killed for the crime said they were carrying out orders of the state.

Related: Rawlings launches attack on ‘Who Killed the Judges?’ documentary

Mr Rawlings and his National Security Advisor, Capt Kojo Tsikata, have vehemently distanced themselves from the atrocities.

Sgt Akata-Pore spoke from his base in the UK
For Mr Akata-Pore, a lot more would have been uncovered if persons, he described as “critical” were investigated.

Although the former president appeared at the National Reconciliation Council (NRC), the former soldier said the killings will not go away until specific questions are answered.

Much of these answers, in his view, are with former president Rawlings because he knows more than anyone else.

“The Chairman (Rawlings) had a lot to do about it but he was not called to be investigated. How can the investigation be complete if persons of critical interest to the case have not been interviewed,” he queried.

There is more in the video below:

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | E: [email protected]