Defence Lawyer of Amadu Koita Makalo , Sigismund A. Conteh has requested for the judge to Acquit and discharge his client of all Charges as the state Prosecutor submissions fail to reach the threshold of his offences.
Awoko reports that In his acute response, to Conteh’s oral submission the principal state prosecutor Ahmed J. M. Bockarie stated that they relied entirely on the evidence adduced before the court and for which he said none of the witnesses were discredited.
He asserted that for the no case submission for and on behalf of Koita, he relied on the evidence of the; 1st, 7th, 12th to 18th, 24th, 29th to 31st prosecution witnesses tendered in court.
He added that the evidence before the court remain uncontroverted that there was a coup plot and the evidence of these witnesses proved systematic attack on government as in their indictments.
He said there is no denial that Cockerill, Wilberforce and Murray Town military facilities were attacked.
Bockarie summed up and said all the evidences led before the court which have remain uncontroverted by the defense shows that the prosecution has proven a case against Koita and therefore pleaded with the court to discountenance Conteh’s submission calling for acquittal and discharge of Koita.
Justice Kamanda having heard from both sides adjourned the matter to Wednesday June 26, 2024 for ruling on the oral no case submission whiles the accused persons remain in custody at the Male and Female Correctional centers in Freetown.
Sierra Leone government earlier charged 12 people with treason and other offenses for their roles in what authorities have called an attempted coup on November 26, .
One of those charged was Amadu Koita, whom 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 media networks where he criticized the government of current President Julius Maada Bio.
He was arrested December 4 and is one of 85 people — most of them military personnel — who were arrested in connection with the events of November 26.
The 12 alleged perpetrators, including former police officers, were handed charges including “treason, misprision of treason, harbouring, aiding, and abetting the enemy,” according to a news release signed by Information Minister Chernor Bah.
12 of them are now in front a judge in the capital Freetown with 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.
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