A court in Ghana's capital Accra has sentenced four senior members of the Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF), a separatist group, to a combined 17 years in prison for operating an outlawed organisation.
Their sentencing on Wednesday comes after Judge Mary Maame Ekueh Nyanzuh of the Accra High Court found the four guilty of several offences.
The convicts include former police and military officers.
The charges levelled against them were: being members of a prohibited organisation, summoning meetings of a prohibited organisation, attending meetings, and making contributions for the benefit of a prohibited organisation.
Lenient sentence plea
The founder of WTRF, Michael Koku Kwabla, alias Togbe Yesu Edudzi, was sentenced to five years in jail, and a fine of 12,000 Ghanaian cedis ($940).
The three other suspects Nene Kwaku, Emmanuel Afedo, and Abednego Mawena were sentenced to four years in jail each, and a fine of 4,800 cedis ($375) each.
Defence lawyer Andy Vortia pleaded for lenient sentences for his clients, saying they had already spent three years in custody.
The prosecution, led by Joshua Sackey, opposed the lenient sentence plea, asking the court to hand down a harsh punishment to deter would-be offenders.
Attacks in the north
On September 25, 2020, members of the WTRF blocked roads in northern Ghana and set fire on two public service vehicles.
On the same day, some members of the group attacked police stations in the same area and freed detainees.
The WTRF is a splinter organisation from the Homeland Study Group Foundation, whose main objective is to secede from the Republic of Ghana, and form an independent state.
The group was seeking control over Oti and Volta regions in the north, as well as eastern parts of Ghana.
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