Sierra Leone drops treason charges against ex-president Koroma

Sierra Leone has dropped treason charges against former president Ernest Bai Koroma, officials said Tuesday, for his alleged role in what authorities called an attempted 2023 coup.

Koroma, who led the West African nation from 2007 to 2018, was charged in January 2024 with treason and other offences. He travelled to Nigeria later that month after receiving permission from judicial authorities to spend a maximum of three months there for medical treatment, but he never returned to Sierra Leone.

A statement from the Office of the attorney general and minister of justice Tuesday stated that it had "filed a notice to discontinue the criminal proceedings" against Koroma.

The ex-president "is therefore free to return to Sierra Leone upon the completion of his medical treatment or at any time of his choosing", the statement said. No explanation was given for the dropped charges, but political insiders believe the government is aiming to promote national unity.

In November 2023 armed attackers stormed a military armoury, 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.

At least 80 people were arrested in connection with the clashes, most of them military personnel.