IN REMEBRANCE OF THE JUSTICES WHO LOST THEIR DEAR LIVES IN THE DISCHARGE OF THEIR JUDICIAL DUTIES.

May the good Lord continue to keep Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee, Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong in his bossom. May their death continue to be a reminder to the Bench, the Bar and the entire Country that the Independence of our Judiciary is a bullwark of our democracy and ought not be toyed with.

May their death remind us, that the executive and any other powers under law or otherwise should not be allowed to exploit the weaknesses in the protection by law offered to Judges in the discharge of their duties.

May our Martyrs continue to rest in peace.

Short tribute by The Law Platform Team

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On Thursday July 1, 1982, the 22nd anniversary of our beloved Republic, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reported a news item that sounded routine and unnecessary, initially.

All judges, it was announced, were thenceforth to be provided with armed security for their protection. Since the judges already had security protection of some sort, the announcement made little impression on the general population and lawyers. Not even the most sceptical, suspected that behind the news item, was a repugnant episode, the horrible details of which were to unfold later.

Soon it was announced officially that three High Court Judges and a retired Army Officer had been abducted at night during the curfew hours of June 30, 1982. Prayers were offered for their safety.

But the nation’s worst fears became a reality when it was announced that Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, all judges of the High Court and Major Acquah, a retired army officer, had been most brutally and savagely murdered on the night of their abduction. This cruel, savage and heartless act occurred at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains.

The bodies of these precious Ghanaians had been soaked with petrol and set on fire. Divine intervention, through a heavy downpour that night, quenched the burning bodies. When discovered, the charred bodies had deteriorated into a state of decomposition.