It’s an abuse to keep Shalimar Abbiusi after court granted her bail – Xavier Sosu

Counsel for Shalimar Abbiusi, Francis Xavier Sosu says it is unlawful for the Police to decide to keep her even after she was granted bail.

Shallie Abbiusi was arrested by the Ghanaian Immigration Service over claims that she entered the country with forged documents.

Abbiusi was taken into custody during an inquiry into her immigration status in the country.

The Immigration Service took notice of Abbiusi’s activities on social media, particularly her role as the spokesperson for “The New Force.”

Abbiusi’s arrest occurred after an invitation by the Head of the National Enforcement Section at the Immigration Headquarters to address concerns related to her immigration status.

Reports indicate that Abbiusi first came to Ghana in September 2017 and was a frequent visitor of the country until 2018 when she claimed residency as a student of Ghana Christian Service Unversity College.

However, checks from the school revealed that she had never been a student, and the documents she used for residency were fake.

Abbiusi was arraigned before the Kaneshie High Court and was granted bail on Monday, December 11, 2023. However, investigators are insisting on keeping her even after the court granted her bail.

But speaking to the media, Lawyer Xavier Sosu indicated since the court has granted her bail and her sureties have proven that they are capable of meeting the bail requirement, investigators have no right to insist on keeping her.

He argues that if they insist on keeping her, it will be an affront to the power of the court and an abuse of the human rights of the accused person.

“The bail has been granted, the sureties are around and have properly brought their ID cards and supplied same to the Registrar of the Court. The only thing left is for the investigator to inspect the homes of the sureties so that they will sign. What is happening now is that they want to go and keep her until whatever, very respectfully, that will be an abuse, it will violate her right to a fair trial, violate her freedom of movement. How do you treat a foreigner like that on your land? Ghanaians are also foreigners in another land so how we want to be treated elsewhere is the same way we want to treat others here.”

That will amount to contempt of court and we won’t accept that because that will be unlawful. That will be an affront to the decision of the court today. Unless someone is being arrested in which case they will have to let us know why she’s being rearrested. You can’t just go by arresting a person for no reasonable cause,” he told the media.