A close friend of former President Rawlings has mounted a spirited defense for the late leader over the murder of three high court judges and a retired military officer about 36 years ago.
Riad Hosiefe stated unequivocally that, the late President did not give the order to have the judges, Justices Cecilia Koranteng Addow, Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong and Fred Poku Sarkodie and a retired military officer, Major Sam Acquah, murdered under the cover of darkness in 1982.
Rather, he claimed the prime suspect, Joachim Amartey Kwei, unanimously gave the order without the backing of the authorities in the Provisional National Defence Council with Mr Rawlings as Head of State.
“Nobody ordered them to kill the judges. Amartey Kwei called the three soldiers and they committed the crime to settle personal scores,” Mr Hosiefe said in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, Monday.
Pained by the conduct of the soldiers, he claimed Mr Rawlings ordered him to arrest the soldiers for the necessary sanctions to apply.
“I supervised the execution of the soldiers who killed the judges and Rawlings cried because of Amartey Kwei,” he disclosed.
Mr Hosiefe maintained that the killings were terrible mistakes and part of the excesses of the revolution.
However, he said the late Mr Rawlings made sure the three soldiers were executed to serve as a deterrent to others.