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Oliver Barker-Vormawor Freed as Treason Charges Dropped

Oliver Barker-Vormawor Acquitted as State Drops Treason Charges

Accra High Court has formally dismissed Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a well-known attorney and social activist, from his treason charges. Barker-Vormawor was accused of inciting a coup if Ghana’s Parliament went ahead and signed the E-Levy Bill into law. The case started in 2022. His detention at the time provoked heated discussions in Ghana over political activism and free speech. When the matter was called during Monday’s court hearings, Barker-Vormawor and his legal team were conspicuously absent. But Esi Dentaa Yankah, the prosecution’s principal state attorney, told the court that the state had filed a Nolle Prosequi, a formal declaration announcing the case’s termination.

Recognizing the state’s decision, the trial judge acknowledged the Nolle Prosequi and officially discharged Barker-Vormawor from the case. This decision effectively brings an end to the legal battle he faced over the treason felony charge, which had been looming over him for more than two years.

In 2022, Barker-Vormawor was arrested for a contentious social media post in which he implied that a coup might take place if Parliament approved the E-Levy Bill. Many human rights activists and political experts offered their opinions on the case’s significance for Ghanaian freedom of expression, and his incarceration and the ensuing judicial proceedings garnered a lot of public attention. Now that the charges have been dismissed, legal experts expect discussions about the case’s wider ramifications for Ghana’s political and judicial system. Barker-Vormawor fans, meanwhile, saw this result as a win for the nation’s democracy and free expression.

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