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ECOWAS court places injunction against impeachment of 3 'corrupt' judges

The ECOWAS Court ordered Ghana not to take any further measures against the applicants who include Justices Paul Uuter Dery, Habib Logoh and Ayisi Addo.

The ECOWAS Court ordered Ghana not to take any further measures against the applicants who include Justice Paul Uuter Dery, Habib Logoh and Ayisi Addo.

This order was given at the second session held on Wednesday, 25 April 2018 in Bamako, Mali, presided by Justice Yaya Boiro.

In an application dated April 13, 2018, the applicants indicated that they had earlier filed a suit for provisional measures (interim measures) pursuant to Article 20 Protocol (A/P1/7/91); Article 79 of the Rules of the CCJ.

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They said: "The defendant (Republic of Ghana) despite the suit in this Court, is proceeding with the impeachment proceedings aimed at terminating the appointment of the applicants/plaintiff.

"The defendant, by letters dated April 6, 2018, to each of the plaintiffs, has ordered the plaintiffs to appear for commencement of impeachment proceedings…"

They, therefore, invoked the authority of the ECOWAS Court to restrain the Republic of Ghana from going ahead further with the impeachment proceedings.

Justice Boiro subsequently granted the application by the plaintiffs to have the Republic of Ghana halt any impeachment proceedings until the case concerning the violation of their human rights have been determined.

Suit against impeachment

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In 2016, three embattled judges have filled a suit at the court of ECOWAS for alleged violations of their human rights.

Justice Paul Dery, Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh and Justice Gilbert Ayisi Addo, in a joint suit, named the Ghana Government, the Chief Justice of Ghana, the Ghana Judicial Council and the Attorney General of Ghana as the first, second, third and fourth respondents, respectively.

By the suit, the three justices are seeking the enforcement of their human rights which have been allegedly violated by the Ghana Government.

The judges are seeking 11 reliefs from the ECOWAS Court under the following laws: United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

The judges claim:

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• That their human rights have been violated;

• That the Government of Ghana "owes it as a duty to respect and uphold and also ensure that every person within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ghana respects and upholds individual human rights enshrined in the laws mentioned earlier;

• That the Government of Ghana has violated their rights to fair trial and administrative justice;

• That the Government of Ghana has violated their rights to equality before the law and freedom from discrimination; and

• That the Government of Ghana has violated their rights to work and to privacy.

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