SIERRA LEONE: SUCCESSFUL APPEAL STRENGTHENS CASE FOR ABOLITION

December 12, 2008: a court in Sierra Leone overturned treason convictions for 11 men. It is the first successful appeal against a death penalty in that country, opening the possibility of an eventual end to capital punishment there.
Hindolo Trye was one of the accused. The charges, laid against 10 members of the former armed opposition groups, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and one civilian, related to an armed attack on the armoury at Wellington barracks, on the outskirts of Freetown in January 2003, in an apparent attempt to overthrow the government of President Kabbah.
"The acquittal of the eleven condemned prisoners is phenomenal," said Brima Sheriff, the director of Amnesty International in Sierra Leone. "This is the very first time in the history of this country that condemned prisoners had won their appeal and released especially for the conviction of treason." (Sources: IPS, 12/12/2008)