A police officer who handed over Issah Mobilla to his alleged killers, testifying before an Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the case, said the deceased was hit in the chest several times with a stick. Three soldiers are standing trial for allegedly brutalizing the then Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in the Northern Region shortly after he reported himself to the police to answer charges of unlawful possession of arms. Two of the soldiers, Corporal Yaw Appiah and Private Eric Modzaka, who are in police custody, appeared in court today. The third, Private Seth Goka, is on the run and will be tried in absentia. Joy FM’s Evans Mensah who was in court said the soldiers showed no emotion while the witness delivered his testimony. The witness said he was ordered to send Mobilla – who was in good health – to the Kamina Barracks in Tamale where the three accused persons hit the deceased’s chest with sticks. The witnessed said Mobilla was made to support his body on his two hands with his legs raised against a wall while the beatings went on. The suspects also allegedly threatened to kill the police officer if he played the fool, he said. The police officer said he heard in the news the next day that Mobilla has passed on. The arrest Alhaji Issah Mobila was after the 2004 general elections invited for questioning by the police for allegedly possessing illegal weapons. He obliged but was subsequently handed over to the military, in whose custody he died. A pathology report conducted by Dr. Kweku Adomako Boateng of the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi revealed that Alhaji Mobila died of a collapse of his left lung, fractured ribs, severe multiple aberrations suspected to have been the result of severe beating. Initial reports from the military had suggested the deceased died of stomach pains. Delayed prosecution There has been a lot of back and forth on the prosecution of persons suspected to have killed him. The developments perhaps pushed the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to make the prosecution of the suspected killers of Issa Mobilla a key campaign issue in the 2008 elections. Monday’s sitting comes after the court earlier this month stayed proceedings to enable Corporal Yaw Appiah and Private Eric Modzaka to pursue an appeal against the court’s ruling which refused them access to the list of potential jurors who will be empanelled to decide their fate. The soldiers proceeded to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal had upheld the High Court’s decision not to allow them access to the list of potential jurors. Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana Additional information was taken from the Daily Graphic