Access to Justice (A2J) has urged the Kaduna State Government to prosecute the military officers indicted by the Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal Panel report following Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky’s acquittal last Wednesday by a Kaduna State High Court.
It condemned the state’s decision to appeal the judgment while ignoring the panel’s recommendation to prosecute soldiers for “atrocities”, including the killing of hundreds of El-Zakzaky’s followers.
El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiite or Shia sect, was acquitted alongside his wife, Zeenat Ibrahim, after a four-year trial for homicide and other related charges.
The El-Zakzakys were prosecuted following the recommendation of a 13-member Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Lawal.
It was set up by the Kaduna State Government to investigate the December 12-14, 2015 clash between the Army and IMN members.
The report held El-Zakzaky responsible for alleged acts of lawlessness by his members.
It also accused the Army of “disproportionate use of force contrary to its rules of engagement”, declaring that soldiers and officers of the Nigerian Army who were involved in the killing of 348 members of the Shiite sect should be prosecuted.
“Out of the said 349 dead persons, 347 (excluding the soldier) were buried in a mass grave,” said the report.
In a statement, Access to Justice accused the state of pursuing an “egregious, apartheid-like pattern of selective justice on the ensuing deaths.
“It arraigned hundreds of IMN members for the murder of one soldier but no soldier has been prosecuted for the murder of at least 348 members of IMN. Not one!
“The Kaduna State government – a democratic, constitutional government – has thereby abused and corrupted the criminal justice process of the state by using it to perpetuate a toxic form of unconstitutional bias and discrimination, elevating one life above those of at least 348 other lives.”
READ ALSO: Kaduna Government files fresh terrorism, treason charges against El-Zakzaky
Access to Justice, therefore, calls on the Kaduna State Government to stop “political persecution of IMN members and leadership,” and begin a constructive dialogue with the group.
It urged the state to “Turn its attention now to the prosecution of all the military officers indicted by the Justice Garba Panel report now.
“If the government fails to do this, it will remain an enabler of the culture of impunity, and of war crimes.
“The government would also have strengthened the hands of those whose desire is to live above the rule of law, and not under it.”
 has urged the Kaduna State Government){kind=link}