Accra-Ghana, Dec. 12, GNA – The Kaneshie District Court has granted a foreigner believed to be associated with “The New Force,” a new political group.
Shalimar Abbiusi, a Belgian and spokesperson of “The New Force,” has been granted bail in the sum of GHC 20,000 with two sureties.
Abbuisi is being held on the charge of “obtaining for yourself a student permit by false declaration.”
She has denied the charge.
The court presided over by Nana Abena Asoh Owusu-Omenyo ordered the accused person to be reporting three times in a week to the Ghana Immigration Service.
The matter has been adjourned to December 19, 2023.
Arguing for bail, Mr Francis Xavier Sosu told the court that at the right time, they would have sufficient evidence to prove that the charge had no foundation.
Mr Sosu said the accused person had sureties with sufficient means who were willing to guarantee her availability.
According to Mr Sosu, the accused person though a foreigner, the sureties would ensure that she would appear to stand trial.
He said admission to bail is inherent to the right to fair trial, adding any offence is bailable.
Defence counsel held that the offence had nothing to do with the accused being a foreigner.
“No law says that because Ghana ‘s boarders are porous the accused person cannot be granted bail.’
Prosecution led by Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Adolf Aboagye Assenso opposed to the grant of bail to the accused person.
ACI Assenso said the state was interested in the accused person’s mission in the country and her activities in politics in the country.
He said the verdict is on the accused to prove that she was a student at the Christian University College in Ghana.
According to him, accused when granted bail would flee even without a passport because Ghana’s borders were porous.
At the District court this morning, some youth with placards stormed the court amidst singing and demanded that the accused person be released.
Some of the placards read: “Protect civil liberties, Free Shallie”, “No to unjust prosecution, defend democracy,” Our voices cannot be silenced, Free Shallie” “Innocent until proven guilty, free Shallie.”
The facts before the court are that the accused was arrested upon invitation by the head of the National Enforcement Section at the GIS headquarters concerning her immigration status in the country.
It said the GIS’s attention was drawn to the activities of the accused person on social media.
Prosecution said the accused was found in some short video in circulation introducing the emergence of a new political grouping described as “The New Force”.
The prosecution said the accused person introduced herself as a Spokesperson for the Force.
The prosecution told the court that investigations revealed that the accused person first came to Ghana on September 4, 2017, through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and had since been a regular visitor to the country until 2018 when she became a resident following her supposed admission as a student at the Ghana University College.
It said checks from the college revealed that she had never been a student.
It said documents purportedly issued by the college to support her application for residence permit were allegedly forged.
