[Published: Friday July 16 2010]
Gambia coup plotters sentenced to death
Banjul, 16 July-(ANA)-A Gambian judge has sentenced eight men, including a former army chief, to death for their part in an alleged coup plot last year.
Judge Emmanuel Amadi said they were all guilty of treason but had leave to appeal within 30 days.
It is not the first time army officers have been accused of plotting against President Yahya Jammeh.
Mr Jammeh seized power in 1994 as a young army lieutenant and has won three widely criticised multiparty elections since then.
The men were accused of procuring arms, ammunitions, equipment and mercenaries from Guinea to stage a coup.
"After going through the evidence of the prosecution and the defence, I find all the persons guilty and accordingly sentence them to death on all three counts," Judge Emmanuel Amadi is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. (ANA)
FA/ANA/16 July 2010---------- |