Sosu-Xavier kicks against airing of Anas' video

A Human Rights lawyer is kicking against the public screening of the audio-visual recordings of the much-publicized bribery scandal which has hit the judiciary.

Francis Sosu-Xavier is convinced the screening may be prejudicial to the case involving the embattled judges who have already been found guilty in the court of public opinion.

Investigative Journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas went undercover for two years in the country's judicial system and brought with him jaw dropping video and audio evidence of judges, magistrates, court clerks allegedly trading justice for money, goats and any other commodity available.

There were 12 High Court judges, 22 Magistrates and over a hundred other court officials who were implicated in the country's biggest corruption scandal to have hit the judiciary.

Even though there were perception of corruption in the country's judiciary, Anas' evidence is said to show just how real the canker is in the country's third arm of government.

But some of the judges implicated in the scandal will not go without a fight. One of them Justice Paul Dery is filing an avalanche of writs to stop some punitive measures being taken against him.

Paul Dery insists his privacy was grossly violated by the Anas-led Tiger Eye team which recorded the various incidents of suspected corruption.

He filed a writ at the High Court seeking to injunct the publication of the video.

His latest writ is against the Accra International Conference Centre, venue for the intended airing of the video.

Commenting on the actions being taken by the embattled lawyer, the Human Rights Lawyer who has been at the forefront of fighting many cases of human rights abuses in the country said the actions being taken by Justice Dery are spot on.

He said it is important that people who are deemed to have committed offences of any kind are allowed to go through the due process of law.

He said it is unfair for the evidence to be put before the court of public opinion after which the same evidence will then be put before the committee constituted by the Chief Justice to investigate the allegations.

Sosu Xavier said the airing of the video may cause irreparable damage to the 'suspects' if it turns out that some of them were innocent of the charges being leveled against them.

"We are also talking about due process. Even persons who are alleged to have committed offences still have rights.

"Publicly screening that Anas video ahead of the hearing of the petition against them will indeed be prejudicial," he said.