Sierra Leone’s former President Ernest Bai Koroma was charged with treason over his alleged involvement in a failed attempt by security forces to overthrow the government in November.
Koroma was also charged with three other offenses at the Magistrate Court in the capital Freetown Wednesday, his lawyer Ady Macauley said by text message.
At least 21 people were killed and more than 2,000 prisoners escaped when gunmen attacked a military armory and overran prisons in Freetown on Nov. 26. President Julius Maada Bio, who was reelected in disputed polls held in June, later described the attack as a coup attempt.
The authorities arrested several people in connection with the plot, including Koroma’s former bodyguard, Amadu Koita. He was charged Tuesday with eleven others, according to a statement from the Ministry of Information and Civic Education. The charges against them included treason and “aiding and abetting the enemy.”
Koroma was charged separately a day later on the assumption that he must have known about the plot, his lawyer Macauley said by phone.
“The charges are very weak,” Macauley said. “These military and police officers were assigned by the state to protect the ex-president. The court then draws the conclusion that my client was involved in or knew about the coup, but failed to come forward. It simply cannot hold.”
The trial against Koroma will start on Jan. 17.
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