By Abdoulie John
Both state and defense lawyers have condemned in the strongest terms attacks on the judge presiding over the case of Three Years Jotna leaders. The condemnation came after some people used social media to haul insults on Justice Amina Saho-Ceesay, casting doubt on her integrity.
Justice Aminata Saho-Ceesay on Monday granted bail to eight executive members of Three Years Jotna to the tune of 200,000 dalasis with two Gambian sureties. She also ordered the accused persons to file an affidavit of means, hand over their travel documents and appear in court whenever the need arises.
The bail resulted after state prosecutors failed to contest the bail application filed by the defense team. It was also made possible by an ammendment on the charge sheet. Without dropping of the third count whose penalty is life in prison the accused persons would not have qualified for bail.
The Jotna movement leaders were arrested on January 26 after their protest march turned violent, resulting to the mass arrests of protesters.
As the accused persons return to the dock on March 25th, one of their lawyers is confident that his client will stick to the bail conditions set out by the court. Senior defense counsel Lamin S. Camara told this medium that the accused persons are law-abiding citizens who will not contravene the law.
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