40-Year-Old Man Thrown In Police Cells For Allegedly Insulting Akufo-Addo In Viral Video

• A young resident of James Town, a suburb of Accra, has been remanded in police custody for allegedly insulting the president, Nana Akufo-Addo, in a viral video
• Raphael Okoe Ankrah was denied bail on May 15, 2023, after pleading not guilty to the charge of offensive conduct conducive to breach of the peace
• However, Oliver Barker-Vormawor of the FixtheCountry fame has condemned the decision of the court as unjust and bizarre

A circuit court in Accra has thrown a 40-year-old in police cells for two weeks for allegedly insulting President Nana Akufo-Addo in a viral video.

Raphael Okoe Ankrah was denied bail on May 15, 2023, and would be remanded in police custody until May 30 after he was accused of using very unprintable words on Akufo-Addo.

Although Raphael's legal representative fought for him to be released on bail, state prosecutors argued against the application for bail.

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Video of Raphael insulting Akufo-Addo may have been doctored

Raphael's lawyer, Yaw Dankwa, Ankrah, told the court presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah that the authenticity of the video which his client is said to have made is in doubt.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, who is prosecuting the charge of offensive conduct conducive to breach of the peace, said the video that went viral on social media was not only vile but agitated the public.

He told the court that after the video came to the attention of the police, Police’s Intelligence Directorate tracked Raphael and arrested him at his hideout in James Town, a suburb of Accra.

The police further argued that it is in the best interest of Raphael to be held in custody the because the anger his comments triggered in his community posed a danger to him.

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Police also appealed to the court to place Raphael, a tiler, in psychiatric care because he told police he was not in the right frame of mind.

Barker-Vormawor slams "weak" Ghanaian judges over Raphael case

Reacting to the case, FixtheCountry convenor Oliver Barker-Vormawor, took a swipe at Ghana's justice system, describing it as problematic.

"What kind of lawyers end up as judges in this town kraa? Do we think police cells are hotels of convenience? What a stupid stupid little country, with weak men as judges, prosecutors and presidents?" he asked in a post on Facebook.

The outspoken leader of the popular pressure group, also a Cambridge-Africa PhD law student, put forth strong arguments in previous Facebook posts to explain that it is not a crime for a citizen to insult the president.

Viral video of SHS girls insulting Akufo-Addo gets GES attention

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported in a previous story in November 2022 that a viral video of free SHS students using vulgar words against the president got the attention of GES.

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The GES has said the matter would be investigated and the findings shared with the public.

The students in the viral video have been identified as second-year students of the Chiana Senior High School in the Kassena Nankano West District of the Upper East Region.

Source: YEN.com.gh