March 6, 2024 is the deadline for former President to reappear in court to continue his treason trial. The deadline is a redline the former President should not cross if business is business.
Ernest Bai Koroma was charged with treason, harbouring, misprision of felony as well as aiding and abetting. Conviction for any of those offences could koroma in a life-time jail.
He was also accused of fuelling and financing the coup especially when his former military aides Idrissa Hamid Kamara aka Leather Boot, Major Amadu Koita, Soriba and others were caught in the cross-fire.
Mr Koroma was arraigned in a Freetown court presided over by magistrate Santigie Bangura after a 40-hour interrogation by police detectives. The former President who retired to his hometown of Makeni for the past five years was placed under house-arrest at his house in Goderich community West of Freetown.
The ex-president’s house which was turned into a detention facility was cordoned off and surrounded by heavily armed soldiers. He should not leave the premises without permission from the police chief. Roadblocks were also mounted with restrictions on the number of persons that should visit him a day.
He was escorted to the court under tight security to answer to such serious criminal charges. His detention also became one of the hottest topics for public discussions with many saying it was not a house arrest.
The argument became a heated one when the former President twitted that he was not placed under house arrest, a statement he made apparently to calm down nerves as the political and security situation was volatile.
The youth were ready to take to the streets with just a mere call. In a press briefing held at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Freetown, the police chief countered the former President’s claim of not being under house arrest.
He said as long as the cautionary statement had been administered to the former President, he was a suspect for the police until proven otherwise. Koroma was granted bail to seek medical attention outside Sierra Leone following an application made by the lead defence, Joseph Fitzerald Kamara although the exact ailment was not disclosed.
Court reports show that APC (All People’s Congress) Chairman and deputy, Minkailu Mansaray and Osman Foday Yansaneh stood surety for the former President.
Endorsement of a bench warrant for the arrest of accused persons and sureties who jump bail is the normal procedure, but it remains doubtful whether the court will adopt such measure.
In the courtroom, the bail application met no tense objection as there were little exchanges between the defence and the prosecution unlike matters of other accused persons. The former youth Minister who was also equally arrested for treason was forced into prison in spite of ill-health. He was granted no bail to get proper medical attention despite bail application by defence lawyers.
The difference in the different nature of treatment to accused persons in the eyes of the law raised critical questions within public domain. Although Koroma’s swift bail was a low-key issue in the courtroom, it was however a different case outside.
The bail ignited a huge public backlash especially among members of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party and those of the South-East regions. Many suggested that the former President should seek medical treatment here in Sierra Leone and not outside the country.
The argument intensified among the public, legal and academic circles especially when the President jetted in Nigeria instead of Germany where he would go medical checks before his arrest.
Outside Nigeria presidential jet, the former President walked healthily and majestically among senior military officers and top civilian dignitaries. A Popular argument holds that an accused for treason hardly gets bail anywhere in the world, a notion that begs the question of why only Sierra Leone.
In several treason trials in post-independent Sierra Leone, the court had granted no bail to accused persons. The case of ex-defence minister, Alfred Paolo Conteh was a clear example.
Conteh who was accused of plotting to topple the government remained behind bars until his case was logically concluded. He saw the light of day following a parole by President Julius Maada Bio after the main treason charge had been destroyed by Dr Abdulai Conteh, one of Africa’s most seasoned criminal lawyers.
In the treason trials of 1960s, 70s and 80s, no coupists got bail unless in the Koroma case and others. Other arguments also show the contrary as bail is one of the privileges that accompany the right to presumption of innocence: according to the cardinal judicial principle, an accused is presumed innocent until a court of law finds him guilty. No attempt at whittling it down would be entertained in any jurisdiction anywhere in the world.
It is however within the court’s discretion either to grant bail or not to do so depending on the prevailing circumstances. The former President was summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in early December, last year to help the police in the investigation in bordering on an “attempted coup” against President Julius Maada Bio.
The coup allegation against the former President came after gunmen and renegades overran military and police armouries and made away with countless number of arms and ammunition on 26th November, last year.
Senior military officers including a Lieutnant Colonel were fatally injured while on the frontlines to repel the attackers. A press release by the Information Ministry showed that the former President should report to the police within 24 hours owing to strong suspicion of involvement in the coup d’etat.
Koroma’s invitation by the CID also sparked fear of insecurity in a country sharply divided by tribe and region. Many see the trial of the former President as a political witch-hunt especially when corruption cases hang on him, and APC’s presidential candidate, Dr Samura Kamara.
Koroma’s arrest also caught international attention as Brenthurst Foundation, an organisation of prominent ex-African leaders condemned his arrest and detention. They appealed to President Bio release the former first gentleman from house arrest and enlist his cooperation for democratic good governance of the state.
Koroma’s arrest also prompted an intervention by leaders of the sub-regional bloc, ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) to save Sierra Leone from an all-out conflict. Ghanian and Senegalese Presidents, Macky Sall and Nana Akufor Ado met President Julius Maada Bio at State House in Freetown where they made an appeal to let go the former President with conditions that all cases against him be dropped, benefits and gratuities paid and property secured.
Credible sources said President Bio had accepted the conditions to let the former President seek asylum in Nigeria, but a letter issued by the Foreign Affairs ministry contradicted government’s previous agreement with the ECOWAS leaders.
In plain terms, the letter said the former President would not leave Sierra Leone until the conclusion of the matter, and Situation became worse when Koroma was humbled the next day in court.
The second appearance, according to reliable sources, would have seen the ex-head of state behind bars, a move that would have plunged Sierra Leone into one of the worst security crisis.
Top members of the main opposition, All People’s Congress, at that time, have called on the grassroot supporters and sympathisers across the country including those in the South-East regions to accompany the former President to the courtroom.
The small city of Freetown would have seen chaos that would have disrupted business of the day. It was a real threat to national security, and such sure signs of an all-out conflict in Sierra Leone prompted another visit to President Bio by the ECOWAS President, Dr Allieu Touray.
Discussions between President Bio and the ECOWAS President culminated in the release from custody of the former President on bail, but will he come again to answer to the charges?