The 21 persons alleged to be members of the LGBTQI+ community have been acquitted and discharged by the Ho Circuit Court presided over by Justice Felix Datsomor.
The 21 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender-diverse activists were arrested in June while attending a conference in Ho in the Volta Region on Thursday, 20 May 2021.
They were subsequently arraigned and charged with unlawful assembly.
According to a statement issued by the police, the suspects, drawn from Greater Accra, Ashanti, Upper East, Upper West, Eastern, Northern, and the Volta regions, converged on the Nurses and Midwives Hotel in Ho on Thursday, 20 May 2021, to advocate LGBTQI rights.
The suspects, including 16 females and 5 males, were then remanded into police custody on Friday, 21 May 2021.
They were granted bail of GHยข 5,000 with one surety each on 11 June 2021.
Some LGBTQI+ books and flyers were retrieved upon preliminary investigations.
The case was thrown out because Chief Superintendent Akolgo Yakubu Ayamga, at the hearing today, Thursday, 5 August 2021, said the Senior State Attorney had noted that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge and had, accordingly, advised that the case be struck out, and the accused persons discharged.
Justice Datsomor cited the advice from the AG, which he received in a letter dated 2 August 2021, and struck out the case based on the strength of the prosecutorโs submission.
