The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has called for those responsible for the assault of Connect FM’s Journalist, Eric Nana Gyetuah, to be made to face the full might of the law.
The call comes after the Takoradi-based journalist, Mr Gyetuah was allegedly assaulted by five police officers on Thursday, February 3 at a popular eatery in the Western Region.
According to reports, the media practitioner took photos of some arrested individuals the police had brought to the restaurant and refused to delete the photos when they confronted him. This subsequently led to the angry cops allegedly beating him to a pulp.
The journalist ended up with swollen eyelids with blood oozing from his swollen mouth and was also handcuffed and sent to a Police station.
The Association in this regard issued a press release to condemn the attack on the journalist.
“The GJA is struggling to come to terms with reports of policemen who renounced the use of reason and abandoned their code of conduct to brutally assault Eric Nana Gyetuah, Producer at an FM in Takoradi for filming them in a public place,” portions of the release signed by GJA President, Affail Monney read.
Mr Monney further called for a speedy conclusion of investigations into the assault, adding that “GJA applauds the despatch with which the IGP directed that police investigation be carried out into the case.”
Also touching on the attack at Radio Ada, Mr Monney demanded for an ‘expeditious enquiry’ into the alleged armed robbery attack on the victim, Korle Adjator, of the Community Radio station.
He added that “we expect that the law will take its course no matter how complex the issues might be.”
He said: “The magnitude and closeness of the two incidents send worrying signals, especially, to international media watchers who still regard Ghana as a reference point of press freedom and democracy in Africa.”
Below is the full statement: