The Kaneshie District Court has granted bail in the sum of GH¢20,000 to Shalimar Abbiusi, the spokesperson for the New Force.
Initially featured in the group’s campaign video, the woman is accused of acquiring a student permit through false declaration.
Among other things, the video showed Ghanaians’ suffering under the Akufo-Addo administration, calling into question the role of leadership in addressing citizens’ issues.
She was taken to the courthouse Monday morning by officers from the National Investigations Bureau.
Ms Shalimar has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In red and black, supporters of the New Force movement were at the court premises carrying placards with inscriptions such as “free shallie!, justice for shallie uphold human rights!, peaceful protest for fair trials and justice!, and We demand transparency in Shallie’s case!”.
Speaking to the media after the court hearing, Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu, the counsel for Shalimar Abbiusi said his client was not charged under any national security laws or subversion of the constitution hence the prosecutor’s question of the security of the state should not have even come up.
“What are we afraid of? When the person was arrested, the immigration went to her home and was searched. Nothing incriminating was found and she’s been available to them for the past seven days so what security are we talking about or people do not have the right to political activities anymore?” he questioned.
He added that two sureties as part of the bail terms for the accused person have provided all the required documents and are currently waiting for their houses to be inspected for the accused to be released.
However, he explained that the NIB are trying to keep his client in their custody whilst bail is being processed saying that “that will amount to contempt of court and we won’t accept that and that will be unlawful. It will be an affront to the court’s decisions today.”
Ms Abbiusi’s was remanded into lawful custody on Friday, December 8 by the same court where she was first arraigned by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
The court granted the prosecution a few days to complete its investigation and remanded the accused individual in lawful custody to appear in court on Monday, December 11, 2023.
