OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Monday 11.30pm.
A MILITARY court in Sierra leone has condemned 34 officers to death by firing squad for crimes linked to the coup that toppled the elected government last year.
The 34 were found guilty of treason, murder and other crimes committed by the junta, which held power for 10 months until President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and his government were re-instated by the Ecomog West African intervention force in March.
Three other officers were acquitted while another died in custody during the court martial, which lasted more than two months.
Military court president Colonel Tom Carew ruled that the officers were among the chief architects of the May 25, 1997 coup.
Among the convicts is Colonel FY Koroma, the brother of former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma, who has gone into hiding in the eastern interior with the remnants of his ousted forces.
Last month 16 civilians were convicted of treason and sentenced to death for collaborating with the junta. Another 38 civilians are on trial in separate cases for treason connected with junta rule, while former rebel leader Foday Sankoh is standing trial on various charges, including crimes against humanity.
Remnants of the junta, along with forces of the Revolutionary United Front, have maintained a brutal campaign in the north and east of the country in which villages are attacked and their inhabitants killed or mutilated.