{"id":420,"date":"2024-07-23T14:48:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/?p=420"},"modified":"2024-07-23T14:48:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:48:30","slug":"former-sierra-leonean-presidents-bodyguard-jailed-over-failed-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/former-sierra-leonean-presidents-bodyguard-jailed-over-failed-coup\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Sierra Leonean President\u2019s Bodyguard Jailed Over Failed Coup"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former bodyguard of Sierra Leone’s ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma has been convicted of treason and sentenced alongside 10 others over his role in a failed coup last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amadu Koita Makalo, a former soldier was sentenced to 182 years in prison on charges of treason, murder and shooting with intent to murder.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was arrested and charged alongside 10 others following attacks by gunmen on military barracks and prisons last November.<\/span><\/p>\n

It came months after a disputed election which saw President Julius Maada Bio narrowly re-elected for a second term.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over 2,000 prisoners were released and at least 20 people killed before the government regained control, terming the attack an attempt to overthrow the government.<\/span><\/p>\n

Makalo, who has a wide following on social networks where he criticized the government, was accused of being among the organizers of the coup plot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local newspaper Awoko reported that during his sentencing on Monday, a judge remarked that the former presidential bodyguard had shown no remorse throughout the trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of this sentence is to serve as a deterrent for people to know that coups or attempted coups to overthrow any legitimate government is no longer accepted,\u201d Komba Kamanda was quoted as saying.<\/span><\/p>\n

It reported that Makalo’s co-accused received between 39 and 182 years in jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

A judicial spokesman who spoke to the AFP news agency did not specify the length of their jail terms, as the court document had not yet been stamped and signed.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least 80 people were arrested in connection with the incident, most of them military personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

In January, 12 people, including former police officers, were charged with treason and other offences.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same month, Koroma, who ruled Sierra Leone for 11 years until 2018, was charged with treason in connection with the coup attempt, but he denied the charges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the charges, the former president was granted permission to travel to Nigeria for not more than three months on medical grounds, but iss yet to return to Sierra Leone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: BBC News\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former bodyguard of Sierra Leone’s ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma has been convicted of treason and sentenced alongside 10 others over his role in a failed coup last year. Amadu Koita Makalo, a former soldier was sentenced to 182 years in prison on charges of treason, murder and shooting with intent to murder. He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}