FILE PHOTO: President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma waves to supporters of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) party during a rally ahead of the March 7 presidential election in Makeni, Sierra Leone March 5, 2018. REUTERS/Olivia Acland/File Photo
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 press release said.
One of those charged was Amadu Koita, who 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 networks, where he criticized the government of current President Julius Maada Bio.
READ: Twenty killed in Sierra Leone attack and nearly 2,000 prisoners escape
He was arrested on December 4 and is one of 85 people arrested in connection with the events of November 26, most of them military personnel.
The twelve alleged perpetrators, including former police officers, were handed charges including “treason, misprision of treason, harboring, aiding, and abetting the enemy,” according to a press 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.