Sierra Leone drops treason charge against ex-president over attempted coup
Ernest Bai Koroma was arrested in 2023 after gunmen broke into an armoury and some jails, freeing inmates.
Sierra Leone has decided to drop treason charges against former President Ernest Bai Koroma, who had been living in exile in Nigeria since January 2024. The government did not provide a reason for the dismissal of the charges, which were related to an attempted coup that occurred nearly three years ago.
Koroma, 72, has consistently denied any involvement in the November 2023 coup attempt, during which armed individuals broke into a military armory and several prisons, resulting in the escape of nearly 2,000 inmates. In response to the charges being dropped, Koroma expressed his "enduring conviction that peace, justice and reconciliation must always triumph over adversity."
In a statement released on Tuesday, he also thanked Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, and the West African regional organization Ecowas for their support. Following Koroma's charges and subsequent house arrest, Ecowas facilitated an agreement with the Sierra Leonean government that allowed him to seek medical care in Nigeria.
The office of Sierra Leone's attorney general confirmed on Tuesday that Koroma is now free to return to his home country. Koroma served as president of Sierra Leone for 11 years until 2018, when President Bio was elected. The coup attempt resulted in the deaths of approximately 20 individuals and occurred five months after a contentious election in which President Bio was narrowly re-elected for a second term. The results were contested by Koroma's All People's Congress, and international observers criticized the elections for a lack of transparency in the counting process.