[contextly_sidebar id=”ZFpvDz7mDD3QY5TB525uSmGiCFPDIVaA”]The 13 Delta Force members were fined 200 penalty units, translating to GHc2,400 or in default spend three years in prison.<\/p>\n
They are also to sign a bond of good\u00a0behaviour\u00a0and abide by the terms for a period of six months or in default\u00a0serve\u00a0two years jail term.<\/p>\n
The members, however remain on trial on the initial charges of conspiracy to assault a public officer and causing unlawful damage, after they allegedly raided the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, and assaulted the Regional Security Coordinator because they were against his appointment.<\/p>\n
Fines will not serve as deterrent<\/strong><\/p>\n Though the 13 remain on trial, Mr. Ablakwa said he still held the view that \u201cthe court decision on the matter of their arrest is not harsh enough to serve as a deterrent. It would appear that it is just a slap on the wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the fact this has never happened in our history and how their singular act has attracted so much negative international publicity and negative international attention which is undermining our democratic credentials and reducing our status in the comity of nations.”<\/p>\n Mr. Ablakwa noted further that, the UN had even been compelled to issue a \u201cdamning\u201d statement on the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought that the respective judges should have taken all of this into consideration because this is really akin to a jailbreak, and normally when these things happen in other jurisdictions, the severest of sanctions are issued.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN in a joint statement from the special representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel; Mohammed Ibn\u00a0Chambas,\u00a0and the Resident Coordinator of the UN system in Ghana;\u00a0Christiane Evans-Klock, described the attacks in Kumasi as reprehensible.<\/p>\n The UN also called for a thorough government investigation\u00a0into these incidents, noting that Ghana’s image was being affected by these developments in Kumasi<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The punishment issued to the 13 Delta Force members for escaping from court custody is not harsh enough, according to the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. In a Citi News interview, the MP argued that, the unprecedented nature of the crime and the international embarrassment that came with it, warranted sanctions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[54,3,5974],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Samuel](\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ministerial-vetting-25.jpeg\")