Suspended Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has submitted a supplementary affidavit in her ongoing legal battle against the committee investigating her removal.
In the latest filing, dated May 26, 2025, Justice Torkornoo claims she is being subjected to gross human rights violations, unlawful treatment, and a biased inquiry process.
According to the affidavit, the proceedings related to the three petitions seeking her removal have violated her constitutional right to a fair trial and subjected her to degrading and inhumane treatment.
Torkornoo stated: “That I respectfully seek leave of this Honourable Court to bring to the Court’s attention various developments since the filing of the present application which evidence a complete desecration of my basic constitutional rights to a fair trial, violation of my dignity and subjection to inhuman and degrading treatment, of a kind not meted out to even accused persons on trial for treason and other offences against the State.”
She further highlighted disturbing treatment during the proceedings, including unjustified security searches and restricted access for her family and legal team.
“That other developments like the denial of access into the hearing room for my husband and children, searches on my body, denial of access to telephones and laptops for myself and my lawyers (even though counsel for petitioners have access to their phones and laptops) and the conduct of the hearing itself in a high security zone at the premises of the Castle, Osu show a deliberate effort to subject me to mental torture and degrading treatment in violation of my fundamental rights.”
Justice Torkornoo also questioned the unusual change of venue for her proceedings. Unlike previous Article 146 hearings held at the Courts Complex, her case is being conducted at a high-security location at the Castle, Osu—a move she described as troubling and unjustified.
“That all article 146 proceedings with the exception of the one I am being subjected to, had hitherto, been held in a judicial facility, specifically, the Courts Complex. The location of proceedings affecting me to a cordoned high security facility boggles the mind.”
Gertrude Torkornoo’s Affidavit by emma tony on Scribd
