Accra (Greater Accra), 14th April ?99 ?

Mr Charles Quist, chairman of a circuit tribunal in Accra, on Tuesday ordered the Police to offer Captain James Owoo (rtd), who is being held for treason, every opportunity and right to engage an attorney of his choice. This, the chairman said, would enable the accused and his counsel to prepare "adequately to face the charge".

Mr Quist made the remark following submissions by Mr Akoto Ampaw and Mr Felix Odartey Wellington, who presented themselves as counsel for the accused. They alleged that they were finding it difficult to take briefs from their client because he was being kept in a cell at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). Counsel wanted to know why the accused was being kept at BNI and not in prison custody as previously directed by the court.

Police Superintendent Elizabeth Allandu replied that the accused was being kept at BNI, because the Police had not completed their investigations. The case for the prosecution is that Capt. Owoo was arrested on March five, 1982 in Accra with other soldiers for plotting to overthrow the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

He escaped from the Usher Fort, where he was put after some dissident soldiers had broken into the prison. Again in 1994, he went to Cote d'Ivoire, where he conspired with five other civilians to topple the Government. The five persons were arrested and tried without him. Capt. Owoo was arrested last month in Freetown, Sierra Leone, by ECOMOG. The case was adjourned to April 27.