Sierra Leone’s judiciary on Wednesday January 17 allowed former president Ernest Bai Koroma to travel abroad for medical treatment, following his indictment for his role in an alleged coup attempt in November 2023, his lawyer said.
“The High Court of Sierra Leone on Wednesday granted bail to former President Ernest Bai Koroma to undergo medical treatment abroad”, lawyer Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara told reporters, without specifying a date for his departure.
Mr Koroma, 70, who led the country from 2007 to 2018, will travel to Nigeria for medical treatment, the High Court wrote in a message published on X. He was charged in early January with four offences, including treason and concealing treason. The former President was due to appear on Wednesday, but the trial was adjourned until March 6, his lawyer said. According to his lawyer, Mr Koroma, who has been under a regime akin to house arrest since December 9, is also allowed to leave his home for medical treatment.
In the early hours of November 26, men attacked a military armory, two other barracks, two prisons and two police stations, confronting security forces with weapons drawn. The fighting left 21 people dead, including 14 soldiers, a policeman, a prison guard, a security guard, a woman and three assailants, according to the Minister of Information.
At least 80 people were arrested in connection with the fighting, most of them soldiers, 27 of whom are being prosecuted for “mutiny”. Mr Koroma had been questioned several times by the police.
A high-level delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by the Senegalese and Ghanaian presidents, met Mr. Koroma and acting president Julius Maada Bio at the end of December.