The court of appeal will play host to the state as it files an appeal against the high court ruling involving General Badjie and two military officers who were let go by the court.
The case involving the State vs Lt. Gen. Sulayman Badjie, which is now before the Court of Appeal attracted lots of attention after his arbitrary arrest when he came into the country.
The appeal process has been initiated since the state still thinks Lieutenant General Sulayman Badjie, Major Landing Tamba and Warrant Officer Class 1 Musa Badjie should be kept in detention whilst investigations into their alleged conduct is being investigated.
In the High Court earlier on Justice Zainab Jawara-Alami ruled that the application seeking to keep the accused persons in custody is turned down and their immediate release is ordered.
The State describes the ruling as unreasonable and notes that it cannot be sustained taking into consideration the nature of the case. The State in its prayer asked the Appeals Court to set aside the high court ruling.
“The high court judge erred in law as she failed to consider that section 19 subsection 3 of the Constitution as a general guideline. This provision of the Constitution is only a guideline as to the period of legality with respect to how long a person or suspect can be detained by an investigative authority in connection with a crime,” the State contends.
The particulars of the error indicate that the State submitted that the trial judge failed to consider that the purpose of practice directive number 5 is to effectively abolish the use of holding charge and in effect give legitimacy to judicial sanctioned detentions without a formal charge.
The State in its prayer asks the Court of Appeal to make a declaration that practice directive 5 paragraph 4 of 2013 and section 19(4) of the Constitution permit the detention of persons suspected of having committed an offence beyond 72 hours pending further investigation and without a formal charge.
