Sierra Leone Sentences 11 for Treason After Attempted Coup; Alleged Leader Gets 182 Years
A court in Sierra Leone has sentenced 11 individuals guilty of treason and related offenses following an attempted coup. Their leader, Amadu Koita Makalo, was condemned to nearly 200 years in prison, a judiciary spokesman announced on Tuesday.
In November 2023, several armed men broke into the country’s armoury and freed over 2,000 inmates from a maximum-security prison. The incident resulted in the deaths of at least 18 security forces. Authorities initially arrested around 80 suspects, and a dozen were charged in January, including former president Ernest Bai Koroma, who was later granted bail on medical grounds.
Makalo, a former bodyguard of Koroma and a vocal critic of the current President Julius Maada Bio on social media, was sentenced on Monday to 182 years in prison on charges of treason, murder, and shooting with intent to kill. The other ten defendants, also found guilty of treason and murder, received prison sentences ranging from 30 to 112 years.
Koroma remains a prominent figure within his political party. Information Minister Chernor Bah revealed that many of those arrested in connection with the attack were former associates of the ex-president.
Following Bio’s re-election last year, opposition claims of election rigging have intensified. Two months after his re-election, police reported arrests of several individuals, including senior military officers, who were allegedly planning to use protests to undermine peace.
