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Sierra Leone judicial authorities will allow former president Ernest Bai Koroma to travel abroad for medical reasons despite his indictment over his alleged role in a coup attempt, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Koroma, who led the West African nation from 2007 to 2018, was charged earlier this month with treason and other offences over what authorities have called an attempted coup on November 26.
Sierra Leone’s High Court said Koroma would be granted bail to travel to Nigeria for an unspecified medical treatment, his lawyer Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara said.
He had been scheduled to appear for a hearing in the case on Wednesday, which has now been adjourned until March 6.
Koroma has effectively been assigned to house arrest since December 9, but the court also said he could leave his residence to visit doctors.
On November 26, 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.
The violence in Sierra Leone at the end of November had sparked fears of another coup in West Africa, where Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea have all experienced putsches since 2020.
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