Court adjourns case of two editors to November 26

Accra (Greater Accra) 23 Nov '98 A circuit court in Accra will on Thursday, November 26, hear arguments as to whether or not a supplementary affidavit in support of a motion should be entertained by the court.

The motion, filed by the defence in the case in which two editors are charged with making publications likely to injure the reputation of the country, has already been argued and was awaiting the ruling of the court.

The accused persons, who have pleaded not guilty to the charge, are Eben Quarcoo, former editor of the "Free Press", and Kofi Coomson, editor-in-chief of the "Ghanaian Chronicle".

Defence counsel, Mr Akoto Ampaw, told the court that the affidavit is intended to strengthen the motion filed on September 22, this year, urging the court to "abort the trial, dismiss the case and discharge the accused persons" because President Jerry John Rawlings had officially made statements which, to them, would prejudice the case.

Replying, Mr Joshua Amidu, Deputy Attorney-General, objected to the supplementary affidavit on the grounds that he did not see its relevance to the motion.

The deputy Attorney-General said the defence should, in any case, have sought the leave of the court before filing the supplementary affidavit since the motion was originally accompanied by an affidavit.

The prosecution had opposed the motion which it described as "spurious" and "meant to delay the completion of the hearing of the case...".

The court, presided over by Mr Victor Ofoe, adjourned the case for both defence and prosecution to argue on it.

The substantive case has been fixed for continuation on the same date.