PH
Twelve individuals were charged by Sierra Leone on Tuesday with treason and other offenses for their roles in what the country’s authorities have described as a coup attempt on November 26, according to a news release.
Amadu Koita, who the government claims was one of the coup attempt organizers, was among those charged.
Former soldier and former president Ernest Bai Koroma’s bodyguard, Koita gained a large following on social media and voiced criticism of current President Julius Maada Bio’s administration.
He is one of 85 persons who have been detained in relation to the events of November 26; the majority are members of the armed forces. His detention occurred on December 4.
The twelve alleged perpetrators, including former police officers, were handed charges including “treason, misprision of treason, harbouring, aiding, and abetting the enemy,” according to a press release signed by Information Minister Chernor Bah.
According to the statement, all eleven of the accused had legal representation and that their cases had been presented before a judge in the capital city of Freetown, with one accused person’s hearing being postponed owing to illness.
Armed assailants engaged in combat with security personnel on November 26 after breaking into a military armory, two barracks, two jails, and two police stations.
Authorities believed there had been a coup attempt by members of the military forces, and before they could retake control, twenty-one people had died and hundreds of detainees had escaped.
In West Africa, where putches have occurred in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea since 2020, the violence raised worries of another coup.
