By Francis H. Murray
Thomas Moore Conteh, a civil society campaigner arrested for involvement in an anti-government protest earlier this month, has been acquitted and discharged of all counts leveled against him by the Sierra Leone Police. Magistrate Mark Ngeba dismissed the case on Friday for “lack of evidence”.
The decision came after State Prosecutor, Adrian J. Fisher, told the court that the state found no evidence connecting the accused person to the charges proffered against him by the Inspector General of Police, citing Section 66 (4) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.
Conteh, the Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy Network (CAN), which operate as a pressure group, on the 5th of March this year led students of the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in a peaceful protest at the central business district. The students were protesting over government’s failure to honor its commitment of paying their school fees, which led the university to kick them out of lecture rooms.
Conteh and dozens of students were arrested by Police officers who pounced on them as they tried to march.
All the students were released hours after their arrest. But Conteh was detained and subsequently arraigned on three count charges, including conspiracy.
The police say he incited the students to breach the public peace and also failed to notify the Inspector General of Police of an intention to take part in organizing a procession contrary to the dictates of the Public Order Act.
Once again police came under public criticism for the way they handled the incident and their decision to prosecute Conteh.
Defence counsel, Lawyer Rashid Dumbuya, lauded the decision of the court, referring to the ruling as a “display of justice”.
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