The legal fraternity converged on the Ridge Church in Accra yesterday to commemorate the abduction and killing of three Justices of the High Court and a retired Army officer. 

At the 43rd Martyrs Day observance, judges from both the superior and lower courts, lawyers, as well as friends and families of the victims, gathered to honour the memories of the judges and the army officer at the solemn church service.

The service was preceded by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Supreme Court, where the busts of the three judges had been erected.

The victims were Justices Frederick Opoku Sarkodie, Cecelia Koranteng-Addo, Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong and Major Sam Acquah (retd).

They were abducted from their respective homes in Accra on June 30, 1982, and murdered at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains.

Consequently, June 30, every year has been declared Martyrs Day by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and the Judicial Service, where a series of events are organised in their memory.

The event was attended by the acting Chief Justice, Justice Paul Kwadwo Baffoe-Bonnie; the GBA President, Efua Ghartey, and other justices of the superior courts who took turns to read scriptures and the profiles of the victims.

Condemnation

The GBA President, Mrs Ghartey condemned the incident and said it was important for the nation to be careful not to go down that slippery slope again.

She said an independent Judiciary in its true sense was a bulwark for all who sought justice and should, therefore, be jealously protected.

“The judiciary's foremost attraction should be its glaring independent nature, credibility and transparency, hence the numerous provisions in our 1992 Constitution seeking to guarantee same,” the president added.

Touching on the ongoing process for the removal of the suspended Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, she entreated the superior court judges to be well apprised of the entire process in the spirit of fairness.

“Rising to the defence of judicial independence is the mandate of the GBA, and this is not personality-driven.

“On this day that we meet to honour the memory of the Martyrs of the Rule of Law, let us resolve as a nation to do ourselves proud and humbly walk away from settling scores endlessly as we are all one nation with one destiny,” she said.

Mrs Ghartey expressed confidence that in the spirit of reconciliation, various calls made for a reconsideration of the suspension of the Chief Justice would be heeded.

Exhortation

In his exhortation, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Most Rev. Professor Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, emphasised the importance of memorialising the past and pursuing justice.

He urged lawyers to use the occasion to champion greater understanding of justice and love, adding that “the world has idolised power and perverted the course of justice”.

“Love does not insist on its own way and does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth,” Most Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu said.

He urged the community to transform the pain of the families affected by the injustice in the past into a force for good.

Most Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu further advised citizens to walk away from potentially violent and destructive situations to actively pursue love and care.