The Sierra Leonean government on Tuesday, January 2, charged 12 people with treason and other offences for their roles in what authorities have called an attempted coup on November 26, a press release said.
The charges, outlined in a press release by the country’s information minister, Chernor Bah, include treason, misprision of treason, and harbouring, aiding, and abetting the enemy.
Eleven of the accused appeared before a judge in Freetown, with one case, that of former youth minister under former president Bai Koroma’s government, Bai Mahmoud Bangura, postponed due to illness. The case was Adjourned until January 9.
The November 26th attack saw armed assailants storm various security installations, including an armoury, barracks, prisons, and police stations, leading to clashes with security forces. The violence resulted in 21 deaths and hundreds of prison escapes before authorities regained control, calling it a coup attempt by disgruntled members of the armed forces. Eighteen of the victims during the clashes were members of the security forces.
One of the prominent names among those charged is Amadu Koita, who the government has said was one of the organisers of the coup attempt.
A former military officer and bodyguard of Sierra Leone’s ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma, Amadu Koita was widely followed on social networks, where he criticized the government of President Julius Maada Bio. Reports say he was arrested on December 4 while hiding in an underground basement owned by a female CID Police officer in Freetown.
Bah had posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account on December 6, an alleged surveillance image on November 26, 2023, date and time stamped, showing Koita with a weapon during the attacks on Pademba road prison in Freetown. The image has not been verified by any independent source.
Some commentators say the coincidence of Koita’s presence in Freetown, away from his residence in the United Kingdom (U.K) and at the time when an alleged coup attempt was being executed against a government he had criticised and advocated for its overthrow on social media, validates the government’s position to some extent.
In 2021, there were reports that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) had investigated Koita, along with several other government critics for “conspiracy to commit a felony, wounding with intent, incitement, insulting conduct, and other related offenses”. The reports said a request had been sent to the Guinean government for their extradition, as they had been reported to have fled to that country.
As at December 10, 71 people had been arrested in the ongoing investigations, including 45 serving military officers, seven serving police officers and 13 civilians, according to the country’s information minister, Chernor Bah.
Koroma himself has appeared before police investigators at the Criminal Investigators Department on three occasions.Koroma himself has appeared before police investigators at the Criminal Investigators Department on three occasions.
The government said he became a subject of the investigation because many of those suspected of involvement in the failed coup were his former associates, and there were recordings of conversations between the former president and some of the suspects, although details of the conversations have not been made public.
Koroma is placed under house arrest at his private residence in Freetown, with limited outside access to him.
