Perpetrators of failed coup in Gabon sentenced to 15 years in prison

The Special Military Court in Gabon’s capital Libreville on Thursday sentenced perpetrators of a failed coup attempt in January 2019 in Gabon to 15 years imprisonment.

Lieutenant Kelly Ondo Obiang and two of his fellow Republican Guard members were prosecuted for endangering state security, destroying public property, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and theft.

On the night of Jan. 7, 2019, renegade soldiers stormed the national radio station in Libreville around 4.00 a.m. local time to announce the establishment of a “national council of the restoration”.

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In the statement, Ondo Obiang, then-lieutenant of the Republican Guard, announced that they were disappointed by the message delivered earlier by President Ali Bongo.

The message “rather heightened doubts about his ability to assume the office of President of the Republic’’.

In the evening, the government of Gabon had reassured that calm had returned and the situation was under control. (Xinhua/NAN)