12 get life imprisonment for lynching Ghana soldier

ACCRA - A court in Ghana has sentenced 12 people to life imprisonment after it found them guilty of killing an army officer, seven years ago.

They were part of 14 suspects who were accused of lynching Major Maxwell Mahama in May 2017, in Denkyira Obuasi area, sparking an uproar in the country.

The High Court in the capital, Accra, on Monday found the 12 guilty of counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and abetment of murder.

UNITED NATIONS - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor told the U.N. Security Council on Monday "there are grounds to believe" both Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are committing war crimes in Darfur at present.

War erupted in Sudan on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese armed forces and the RSF. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan launched an investigation in July last year into the surge of hostilities in Sudan's Darfur region.

The ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, gives the court jurisdiction

They include a local politician who was accused of rallying the community to attack the soldier while he was jogging. The two other suspects were acquitted after the court found them not guilty.

The 32-year-old major was on duty in Denkyira Obuasi located in the country’s Central region when he was attacked by a mob over allegations that he was an armed robber. He was among soldiers deployed to the area to protect a local mine.

There was widespread outrage across the country when news of his death broke.

Following the incident, over 50 suspects were rounded up, out of which 14 were eventually screened for prosecution.

The government posthumously promoted him to the rank of major and gave him a state burial in Accra.

In 2019, authorities unveiled a statue of the slain soldier in Accra to serve as a national campaign against mob action.