Court Sentences 11 Soldiers, Policemen For Failed Military Coup
Two female police officers were also sentenced. Ramatu Kamanda Conteh received a 30-year sentence for harboring Koita.
Ahigh court in Sierra Leone has sentenced 11 people, including soldiers and police officers, to lengthy prison terms for their role in a failed military coup attempt last year.
The court’s verdict follows an attack on November 26, 2023, when gunmen targeted multiple military barracks and a prison, freeing about 2,200 inmates and killing over 20 people.
Reuters reports that, after the failed coup attempt, 12 people were charged with treason in January.
However, on Monday, 11 people were convicted in a unanimous jury verdict on 20 counts, including treason, murder, and unauthorized use of military uniforms.
The twelfth accused, Bai Mahmoud Bangura of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party, is being tried separately due to health concerns.
Amadu Koita Makalo, a retired army major and former bodyguard to ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma, was sentenced to multiple terms totaling 40 to 70 years in prison, with the sentences to be served concurrently.
Two female police officers were also sentenced. Ramatu Kamanda Conteh received a 30-year sentence for harboring Koita.
The government said the coup bid was led mostly by bodyguards to Koroma, who was later charged with four related offences, before the government decided to let him leave the country on medical grounds.
However, Koroma condemned the coup attempt and his lawyers called the charges “trumped up” and part of a “political vendetta”.
Tensions have resurfaced in Sierra Leone, nearly two decades after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that claimed over 50,000 lives.
