By Daniel Bampoe
The Government of Ghana has been ordered by the ECOWAS Court of Justice to pay $75,000 in compensation to 30 individuals affiliated with the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) founded by Charles Kormi Kudzordzi (also known as Papavi Hogbedetor), after the court ruled that their prolonged detention without trial amounted to a breach of fundamental human rights.
The judgment, delivered in Lagos on Friday, May 16, 2025, in case number ECW/CCJ/APP/12/24, concluded that the detainees—who were held for over a year in some cases—were denied due process.
The panel of judges, led by Justice Ricardo Gonçalves with Justices Sengu M. Koroma and Dupe Atoki, declared that Ghana’s actions contravened national and international legal provisions, including Article 14(3) of Ghana’s Constitution and Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which enshrine the right to liberty and timely judicial process.
Each of the 30 applicants, the court ruled, is entitled to $2,500 in damages (to be paid in Ghanaian Cedis).
The judgment also directed the Ghanaian government to either prosecute the detainees within 14 days or release them unconditionally.
Both parties are to bear their respective legal costs, and the full judgment will be formalized following the judges’ endorsements.
The individuals in question were arrested on May 8, 2019, under Ghana’s Prohibited Organisations Decree of 1976.
The law outlaws groups that threaten national cohesion, and Ghanaian authorities accused the HSGF of promoting a separatist agenda in the Volta Region—part of the group’s long-standing claim to independence under the so-called “Western Togoland” cause.
The applicants, however, argued that their arrest was politically motivated and lacked legal basis.
The court rejected Ghana’s defense that national security concerns justified the prolonged detentions, affirming that such measures must still comply with the law.
“This is a violation of their right to liberty,” Justice Gonçalves stated, emphasizing that the government failed to bring the detainees before a court within the constitutionally required 48-hour window.
Although the court acknowledged that the applicants were arrested in connection with secessionist activities, it held that the government’s failure to try or release them within a reasonable period violated their rights.
The court also rejected the claim that the group had the legal standing to demand self-determination, stating that the Homeland Study Group Foundation lacked recognized legal status before the court due to its failure to present registration documents.
This decision adds to a growing list of rulings in which the ECOWAS Court has censured West African governments for rights violations, especially concerning prolonged pretrial detention.
Just a day earlier, the court ordered Nigeria to release a businessman who has been in custody without trial since 2008.
The Homeland Study Group Foundation, founded by the late Charles Kormi Kudzordzi (also known as Papavi Hogbedetor), has been a subject of controversy in Ghana over the past decade, with its calls for independence repeatedly dismissed by successive governments as illegal and destabilizing.
This ruling, however, places the Ghanaian government in the spotlight, raising questions about how security operations against separatist threats are balanced with respect for constitutional rights.
It may also fuel fresh debates within Ghana on the limits of state power in the face of internal dissent.
