Martin Kpebu, lawyer for ACP Benjamin Agordzo has said his client’s trial was politically motivated.
ACP Benjamin Agordzo, along with the late Dr. Mac Palm and eight others, faced charges of conspiracy to commit high treason and high treason in 2021.
On January 24, 2024, the High Court acquitted ACP Benjamin Agordzo while six others were convicted of conspiracy to commit high treason and committing high treason.
In an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem Thursday, Mr. Kpebu criticised the trial, labeling it as an attack on freedom of speech.
He argued that, it was unjust to silence public officers from expressing grievances about President Akufo-Addo’s governance.
He questioned why ACP Agordzo was being tried for expressing concerns similar to those voiced by President Akufo-Addo when he was in opposition.
“It was an affront to free speech to gag public officers not to complain about President Akufo-Addo’s misgoverning. The very Arab Spring that he complained about was the same thing the man [ACP Agordza] was complaining about. Akufo-Addo had said that Arab Spring was in Ghana; and that there was hunger, unemployment, and everything was there to show that citizens would rise up against the government so they needed to do something about it. So nobody tried President Akufo-Addo in opposition, why do you try ACP Agordzo for Arab Spring?” he quizzed.
Meanwhile, an elated ACP Dr. Agordzo said he anticipated the outcome of the trial since the commencement of the legal proceedings against him.
The six individuals convicted of plotting a coup have been sentenced to death by hanging.
Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, the Chief Executive Officer of Citadel Hospital (now deceased), and ACP Dr. Agordzo, together with eight others, were charged variously on April 24, 2021, for conspiracy to high treason, abetment to high treason, and high treason.
Dr. Mac Palm (A1 – now deceased), Donya Kafui alias Ezor (A2), Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu alias Bright Alan Yeboah (A3), Yohannes Zikpi (A4), Warrant Officer Class Two Esther Saan Dekuwine (A6), Cpl Seidu Abubakar (A7), Lance Corporal Ali Solomon (A8), and Cpl Sylvester Akanpewon (A9) were charged with conspiracy to commit high and high treason.
Col. Samuel Kodzo Gameli (A5) and ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzo (A10) were at the time also charged with abetment.
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