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The first Prosecution witness in the trials of alleged coup plotters on Tuesday told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that they gave videotaped confession statements voluntarily.
PW-1 gave his testimony while being tried by the Federal Government lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
Judge Joyce Abdulmalik on Monday ordered a trial within trial following defense lawyers’ objections to the prosecution’s request to show the videotape as evidence.
They argued that their client made the statements during the interview session under pressure.
At the start of the trial, the judge warned the parties to limit themselves to issues relating to the voluntariness of statements and avoid delving into substantive matters already pending in the main trial.
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Oyedepo, who is also the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, told the court that he had prepared three witnesses for trial in the trial.
The defense then called PW-1, an officer of the Nigerian Army Military Police Corps, who testified as PW-4 in the main trial, to give his evidence.
The witness explained to the court that the defendants were calm, not agitated and fully aware of their constitutional rights before giving testimony.
He emphasized that the investigation process was in accordance with standard operating procedures and best investigative practices as regulated in the 2015 Criminal Justice Administration Act (ACJA).
Oyedepo then provided statements from the six defendants which were allegedly obtained by the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) and the Military Police.
Abdulmalik admitted the statements of defendants 1 to 5 as Exhibits A to E, while the statements of defendant 6 were accepted as Exhibit F.
Prosecutors also offered black external hard drives and flash drives that they said contained video recordings of the defendants’ extrajudicial statements, along with identity certificates.
