Retired Army Captain charged with treason

Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March ?99

Captain James William Owu (rtd) of the Ghana Army who was arrested in Freetown, Sierra Leone, by the security agencies appeared before a circuit tribunal in Accra on Tuesday charged with treason.

Capt. Owu, 53, whose plea was not taken, was remanded in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) until April 13. The Chairman of the tribunal, Mr Charles Quist, said by virtue of Section 96 (7) of the Criminal Code of 1960, Act 30, persons charged with treason are denied bail.

Mr Quist ordered that the docket be sent to the Attorney- General's Department after investigations. Pleading with the tribunal for bail, Capt. Owu said "I am a bona fide refugee resident in Cote d'Ivoire and I went to Freetown in April 1988 to transact some business. I was invited by the CID there and after interrogation, I was placed in custody".

The accused said: "the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was working for my release when the rebels invaded Freetown and broke into the prisons. I did not have anywhere to go so I reported to the ECOMOG contigent awaiting my release to go to Cote d'Ivoire. "The leader of the Ghanaian contingent abducted me and brought me to Accra on February 26, this year. I shall be grateful if I could be allowed to get in touch with the UNHCR." According to particulars of a bill of indictment presented to the tribunal by Police Inspector Benedicta Akolgo, Capt. Owu, between July to September two, 1994, in London, Abidjan, Lome and Tema and Accra, conspired with Major Kwesi Oppong-Addae (RTD) of the Ghana Army and five others to overthrow the Ghana Government.

The accused and Major Oppong-Addae escaped but the rest were arrested and four out of the five have since been tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The prosecutor said Capt. Owu, who was arrested in Freetown, was a wanted man for his involvement with some soldiers to overthrow the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) in 1982. On June 19, 1983, he escaped when Ussher Fort, as well as the Nsawam and James Fort Prisons, were broken into by dissidents. He went into exile and in 1994 he conspired with the five persons to topple the Government.