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High Court Judge, Justice Adrian Fisher has on the 20th January, 2023 suspended the committal to prison of the Director of Native Consortium, Edmond Abu Jr. for 12 months.
The condition attached with his release is that he should not repeat the conduct for which he was committed to prison, which was ‘’contempt of court’’.
It is reported that Edmond Abu Jr. openly apologized in court upon his release.
A statement issued by the Judiciary of Sierra Leone states as follows:
“Before Abu’s open apology in Court, the Judge said that, “I have listened carefully to the pleas in mitigation by Lawyer Jengo and taken into account, the apology tendered by the contemnor and upon his undertaking not to repeat the conduct for which he was committed and in accordance with Order 51 Rule 6 sub Rules 1 and 2 of the High Court Rules 2007, I shall make the following orders:
1. That the order of committal of Mr Edmund Abu Jnr to prison for 21 days is suspended for a period of twelve months from the date of this order, on condition that Mr Edmund Abu Jnr does not repeat his conduct. Should there be any further conduct amounting to contempt of court, additional contempt proceedings would be instituted against Mr Abu for this contempt in addition to the new occurrences of contempt.
2. That the undersheriff of the High Court shall serve a copy of this order on the contemnor Mr Edmund Abu Jnr, forthwith and prior to his release from custody, in accordance with the provisions of Order 51 rule 6 sub rule 2 of the High Court Rules 2007.
3. There shall be no orders as to costs.”
Different organisations, including the media had been calling for the release of the activists, who was last week initially detained for 21 days for ‘’Contempt of Court’’.
