A Mauritanian army officer who was extradited from Senegal to face charges of involvement in last month's failed coup against President Maaouiya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya, will be tried by a civil not a military court. Lieutenant M'hamed Ould Didi, who fled to Senegal shortly after the collapse of the June 8 military rebellion, was sent back to the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott last Friday. Judge Mohamed Ould Babana, a member of The Gambia-based African Commission for Human Rights, said Didi and all others who might subsequently be charged in connection with the coup attempt would be tried under civilian law. Human rights activists had expressed fears that the coup plotters would face a military tribunal that would be more be likely to impose death sentences or that — as in previous instances — they might face summary execution.
| The people who were killed in the coup attempt received informal death sentences, didn't they? |
Military sources have said that about 150 serving and retired soldiers had been arrested for questioning in connection with the coup attempt, which led to two days of fierce fighting in the capital. At least 29 people were killed during the uprising, during which rebel tanks shelled the presidential palace. |