The Attorney General has drop earlier charges of conspiracy to assault a public officer, and causing unlawful damage against the Delta Force 13 and charged them with rioting.
The prosecutor, ACP Okyere Darko, told the court presided over by Her Honor Mary Nsenkyire during today’s [Tuesday] hearing that the Attorney General had withdrawn all the earlier charges.
The suspects were subsequently been rearrested, and their lawyers are securing bail for them.
Lawyer for the accused persons, Matthew Appiah, is not entirely happy with the turn of events. He maintains that his clients are innocent.
“We have already insisted that the initial charges were not right, so it is now that Attorney General has advised that it is just rioting from the facts of the case, so that is the procedure and we are bound to comply.â€
The 13, members of the pro NPP vigilante group Delta Force are standing trial on charges of conspiracy to assault a public officer and causing unlawful damage.
They were arrested after they stormed the office of the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and allegedly assaulted him in the process, in protest against his appointment.
At their first appearance in court, the 13 members escaped from lawful custody, when the Judge ruled that they are remanded and not given bail.
They reported themselves to the police and were fined Ghc2,400 each, and also made to sign a bond of good behaviour for escaping lawful custody.
Meanwhile, the case involving the eight (8) persons, supposedly aligned to the NPP, who stormed the court to release 13, was eventually dropped by the state for lack of evidence.
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