‘Fake lawyer’ for alleged secessionists also charged with treason

Prosecutors have added a man posing as legal counsel for alleged secessionists to its list of persons charged with treason.

Dennis Benson Seyram was charged together with the 21 others with four charges.

His name appears in all the four charges of conspiracy to commit treason felony, treason felony, conspiracy to cause unlawful harm and unlawful damage.

In court on Tuesday, when the 21 out of the 32 of the Volta secessionists discharged earlier were arraigned following their re-arrest, the fake lawyer’s name was included.

The inclusion met stiff opposition from the defence team, which led to a cross fire of legal exchanges at the Kaneshie District Court in Accra presided over by Ama Adoma Kwakye.

His counsel, Rexford Nii Nortey Lokko, drew the court’s attention that his client had never been involved in activities linked to some secessionists pushing for the creation of Western Togoland by ceding parts of the Volta region.

He, therefore, prayed the court for his client’s name to be deleted from that list.

Prosecution led by ASP Sylvester Asare maintained that the inclusion was not an error. He told the court that as per the charge sheet, they have 22 accused persons and submitted that Dennis Benson Seyram, the 22nd accused person, was arrested in connection with the case.

The judge directed that defence counsel takes the legal steps so the police can withdraw the charge sheet currently against his client.

This means counsel for the accused person must file the appropriate motion against the prosecution before his client’s name can be struck out of the suspected secessionists list.

Once, the court rules on it, prosecution would have to withdraw the charge sheet before the court and present an amended one that clearly spells out the fake lawyer’s charges.

The ‘fake lawyer’ has however been remanded together with the 21 others to reappear before the court on January 11, 2021.