Failed Gabon coup plotters get 15 years jail sentence

The Gabonese justice system has sentenced the three soldiers who were responsible for orchestrating the failed 2019 coup against sitting president, Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Lieutenant Kelly Ondo Obiang, member of the Republican Guard (GR), the president’s elite unit and praetorian guard, and two other soldiers, had allegedly taken the state broadcasting media hostage and announced an imminent coup at the time when the president was suffering from a stroke.

The sentence is however against the prosecutor’s wish who had requested that the three individuals be handed life sentences in jail for trying to overthrow a democratically elected representative of the people of Gabon.

5 other Gendarmes and a civilian who were equally accused of complying were acquitted by the judge. The three officers who each received a 15 years sentence were also fined 31 Million FCFA.