Gbagbo Minister Charged With Murder

BARELY A week after being granted bail by an Osu Magistrate Court, the former Ivorian Minister, Justin Kone Katinan, is back in custody with fresh charges of murder preferred against him.

The ex-minister was yesterday arraigned at the AMA magistrate court presided over by Ali Baba Bature, after Interpol Ghana arrested him on Friday to assist in investigations into murder-related charges leveled against him.

Mr. Katinan allegedly conspired with Dalo Desire, a former Ivorian minister, and murdered two civilians at Port Bouet, a suburb of Abidjan in March last year.

According to the prosecutor, DSP Abraham Annor, Katinan’s accomplice was currently being held by Ivorian authorities.

Katinan was charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit crime and murder. His plea was not taken.

The prosecutor who informed the court that Interpol Ghana was working on his case prayed the court to remand him to assist investigations.

The accused person expressed shock at the charges by shaking his head when they were being read. This made the judge to assure him not to worry and that “in Ghana we deal with the law. This is just an accusation. They will have to prove your guilt. If they fail to prove it, you are free as anybody”.

His lawyer, Patrick Sorgbodzor, opposed to the application for him to be remanded as well as his arraignment at the court.

He explained that the accused was facing criminal proceedings at the Osu court where he had been charged with robbery and in line with the laws of extradition in Ghana, the Osu court was about to commence hearing of the extradition proceeding.

The accused was already on bail pending the hearing. He prayed the judge to avoid duplicity of trial by allowing the amendment of the charge sheet at the Osu court to include the new charges.

He observed that if this was not done, “we would have two courts doing the same thing with regard to the extradition. We believe that this will create some confusion”.

On the issue of remand pending investigation, the lawyer argued that the prosecution’s stand was wrong, disclosing that Interpol did not have the mandate to investigate criminal cases that occurred in other jurisdiction.

He said they only needed to extradite the person to the country where it occurred for the necessary action to be taken.

According to him, the accused, a registered asylum seeker, had been residing in Ghana since April 19, 2011.

Making reference to an order by the Osu Court where he was granted bail, counsel informed the court that Aboagye Tando, the magistrate, ordered that the right of his client as an asylum seeker should be respected. He subsequently prayed that he should be granted bail.

However, Mr. Ali Baba disagreed with counsel on the issue of merging the charges of robbery and murder, indicating that they were two different charges which could be heard by two different courts.

The judge further indicated that since the accused’ accomplice was outside the jurisdiction of this country, the prosecution would need time to do their investigations. Ali Baba declined to grant him bail and subsequently remanded him to re-appear on October 16.

Presenting the facts, DSP Annor stated that Katinan conspired with Desire to murder one Kamagate Seydou on March 19, 2011 and Diabate Drissa on March 29, 2011 at Port Bouet, a suburb of Abidjan.

According to the prosecutor, on September 12, the Ivorian authorities who had indicated that they had spotted Mr. Katinan, issued an arrest warrant and requested the assistance of Ghanaian authorities to arrest him.

Following this warrant, the accused, on September 28, was arrested by the police and sent to the CID headquarters.

He is reportedly on detention at the CID headquarters.