Private Legal Practitioner George Bernard Shaw has described the trial of Gregory Afoko, who is accused of involvement in the murder of Adams Mahama, as persecution.
Afoko, a prime suspect in the 2015 killing of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Upper East Regional Chairman, Adams Mahama, was finally granted bail after nearly a decade in detention.
The Accra High Court set bail at GHS 500,000 with two sureties, one of whom must own a landed property and both having fixed places of abode.
The ruling follows years of unsuccessful bail applications and growing concerns over his prolonged pre-trial detention.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV on Friday, February 21, Shaw argued that under international human rights law, an individual cannot be prosecuted indefinitely without a fair trial within a reasonable timeframe, a principle also enshrined in Ghana’s constitution.
“Clearly persecution, because under international human rights law, you cannot prosecute someone indefinitely. There is something internationally known as ‘tried within a reasonable time,’ and it is even in our constitution here,” Shaw stated.
He emphasized that delays not caused by the accused should warrant bail.
Shaw pointed out that three years into the trial, the government issued a nolle prosequi, halting proceedings after the arrest of a second accused person.
“This guy, they tried him. Three years into the trial, the government itself issued a nolle prosequi, stopping the trial simply because they had arrested someone—the second accused,” he explained.
Despite the jury later finding Afoko not guilty, the trial was restarted.
Shaw criticized this decision, arguing that in other jurisdictions, a nolle prosequi would have been entered to avoid wasting resources, especially considering the strength of evidence.
“They started again, and it went through the full length, and the jury found him not guilty… In any other jurisdiction, this is where you enter a nolle prosequi, because the decision to prosecute is also guided by other considerations, including whether it is in the public interest, whether it is a waste of money, and the strength of evidence,” he said.
Shaw concluded that the repeated trials amount to persecution.
“You know there is something wrong with the evidence, so you don’t restart the trial for a third time. When you do that, then it’s clearly persecution,” he asserted.
Afoko was arrested in 2015 following Mahama’s death in a brutal acid attack outside his home in Bolgatanga. Since then, he has remained in custody as the legal proceedings dragged on, raising serious concerns about judicial delays and fair trial rights.
Despite multiple attempts by his legal team to secure bail, the court consistently denied his requests—until now.
The trial commenced in 2019 and concluded in 2023, but the jury returned a hung verdict on both counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. As a result, the court ordered a retrial, leading to Afoko’s re-arrest and continued detention.
On Friday, however, his lawyers successfully moved an application for bail pending trial.
While this marks a step forward for his defense, the case remains ongoing as the state pursues its prosecution.
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