Association Calls For Ban On Four Lawyers

The Forum For Governance and Justice (FGJ), in collaboration with the Coalition of Northern Senior High School Students(CONOSHSS), on Friday appealed to the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana(AMJG)to rescind its decision to blacklist four lawyers. The four lawyers, Dr Raymond Atugubah, Mr Abraham Amalba, Mr David Annan and late Mr Larry Bimi, accused the judiciary of corruption during the 11th National Civic Constitutional Week organized by the National Commission for Civic Education earlier this year. The two organizations said at a press conference that the action taken by the AMJG was a violation of the fundamental human rights of the four, especially freedom of speech. According to the members of FGJ and CONOSHSS, the lawyers were also being victimized as they were not allowed to have access to lawyers to defend them in court. �We wish to remind the general public and the Chief Justice of Ghana that the lawyers have among others been denied access to courtsof Ghana since May this year,� the Convener of FGJ, Dr Clement A Apaak, said. �We believe that this is an injustice and is a blatant attempt to intimidate these lawyers into submission, an attempt that have so far failed and will fail.� Dr Apaak said denying the four lawyers access to courtrooms was also affecting their clients, amounting to a breach of the constitutional right of a citizen to be represented in court by lawyers. He said he wondered why a suit filed against the AMJG by the FGJ on behalf of the lawyers had not received any response especially from the General Legal Council.