Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Ernesto Yeboah is still in police custody despite meeting bail conditions set by the Circuit Court on Thursday, June 11, 2020.
Mr. Yeboah’s lawyer, Sammy Darko said his client is still in police custody due to delays in verifying the residence of sureties standing in for the latter.
“The reason Ernesto although has been granted bail by the court but is still in custody is because by the time the Police finished verifying the sureties and where they lived, the court had closed and so they will have to go back to the court early tomorrow.”
Mr. Darko on Eyewitness News expressed his dissatisfaction with what he called frustration in releasing his client.
He pointed out that the bail terms were harsh and excessive, given that his alleged offence was a misdemeanour.
“The law is very settled on how to execute a bail, but I do not know why there is always a problem. When you are granted bail, it is the duty of the registry of that court to determine your sureties, whether they are viable or not. If the court is satisfied with your surety, then the duty of the Police now comes in. The Police are supposed to investigate where you live in the event that if the person jumps surety then the Police can locate such a person and hold you responsible.”
“Now when Ernesto was granted bail, our decision was that he should execute the bail bond in court and then the Police can take him away and go and verify all the sureties but the police insisted that they need to take him to the police station and that the sureties must come to the police station for them to go to their individual houses to verify and I am very sure they have been doing that the whole day. And so by the time they were done, the court had closed and so they could not go back to the court to sign. Unfortunately, he has to spend the night [at the police station].”
Ernesto Yeboah was arrested on June 6 at a Black Lives Matter vigil held in Accra last Saturday.
He was charged with failure to notify the police of a special event contrary to section 1(1) of Act 491.
The Police had said Ernesto was arrested because the vigil, which they described as a protest, was not authorized.
He was subsequently granted a GHS100,000 bail.
Mr. Yeboah pleaded not guilty and the court granted him bail with three sureties; with two of them being public servants.
