- Femi Falana has chided the Police Force for its practice of parading suspects before the media
- He describes the act as illegal; and noted that only the poor and the less-privileged are usually victims
- He also lauded the recent abolition of stay of proceedings in criminal trials, by the Supreme Court
Foremost lawyer and human rights campaigner, Femi Falana (SAN) has stated that the media parade of suspects by the Nigerian Police Force is illegal.
He made the comments at that Civil Society Roundtable on Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the Abolition of Stay of Proceedings in Criminal Trials, which was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Vanguard reports.
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NAIJ.com gathers that Falana faulted the practice; pointing out that it is capable of subverting the justice system. He also noted that only the poor and the less-privileged are usually victims of the ‘illegal act’.
He stated: “You don’t parade the big men; you don’t parade politically-exposed persons. You only parade the poor.”
The legal luminary further lauded the recent abolition of stay of proceedings in criminal trials, by the Supreme Court.
According to him, stay of proceedings was a crooked and unethical method deployed by some lawyers to delay criminal trials of the powerful and the well-connected in the society.
In his words: “It is a class matter; it does not apply to the poor in magistrate and customary courts.”
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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Femi Falana said that contrary to the claim by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some of its leaders, there was nothing wrong with the listing of looters by the federal government.
He made the comment at the Second Forum of the Anti-Corruption Situation Room, which was organized by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda.
According to the legal luminary, that there was nothing wrong with naming treasury looters, if the Police could parade common men for petty crimes.
Lagos Police parades suspects - on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng
