The National Criminal Court of the Central African Republic sentenced former President Andre Kolingba and 21 associates - including three of his sons - to death on Monday for masterminding the failed coup of 28 May 2001.
They were sentenced in absentia after being charged with undermining state security, assassination and destruction of property. Kolingba and associates fled the country following the failed putsch. Kolingba's current whereabouts remain unknown.
Kolingba ruled from 1981 to 1993 before being ousted in multiparty elections by current CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse.
An additional 10 people deemed to have been accomplices were sentenced to 20 years hard labour, while a third category, comprising about 600 deserting soldiers, also received 10-year sentences with hard labour. The president of the National Criminal Court said the state would confiscate the properties of the convicts.
One of the lawyers defending some of the accused, Andre-Olivier Manguereka, told IRIN on Monday that the death sentence was no longer applied in the CAR. "The death sentence has not been applied since 1983," he said. "Courts pronounce it, but it is never carried out."
The CAR capital, Bangui, was again rocked by upheaval in November 2001, when the authorities sought to question the former army chief of staff, Gen Francois Bozize, in connection with the failed May coup attempt. Several days of fighting between government forces and soldiers loyal to Bozize ended when Bozize fled north to neighbouring Chad with his followers. Patasse’s government has since accused them of launching armed incursions into northern CAR.
The CAR, a former French colony, is one of Africa's poorest countries. It has a history of military uprisings, with three major rebellions against Patasse since 1996. Patasse first won a multiparty election in 1993, defeating Kolingba and thereby ending more than a decade of military rule. Patasse won re-election in 1999 amid opposition claims of vote fraud, with student groups consistently demanding his departure.
Division in Bangui mirrors the country’s ethnic divide between Patasse’s north and the south - home to Kolingba, independence President David Dacko, and the late Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who crowned himself emperor before being toppled in 1979.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
