FREETOWN, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone on Tuesday charged 12 people with treason and other offenses for their roles in what authorities have called an attempted coup on November 26, a news release said.
One of those charged was Amadu
Koita, whom the government has said was one of the organizers of the coup
attempt.
A former soldier and bodyguard
of former President Ernest Bai Koroma, Koita was widely followed on social
media networks where he criticized the government of current President Julius
Maada Bio.
He was arrested December 4 and
is one of 85 people — most of them military personnel — who were arrested in
connection with the events of November 26.
The 12 alleged perpetrators,
including former police officers, were handed charges including "treason,
misprision of treason, harbouring, aiding, and abetting the enemy,"
according to a news release signed by Information Minister Chernor Bah.
Eleven of them were brought
before a judge in the capital Freetown, with the case of one of the accused
postponed due to illness, the statement said, adding that all had legal
representation.
On November 26, armed
attackers stormed a military armory, two barracks, two prisons and two police
stations, clashing with security forces.
Twenty-one people were killed
and hundreds of prisoners escaped before authorities were able to regain
control after what they deemed a coup attempt by members of the armed forces.
The violence sparked fears of
another coup in West Africa, where Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea have
all experienced putsches since 2020.
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