Guinea-Bissau President Kumba Yala has fired Attorney General Amine Saad following the state’s failure to obtain a conviction in the first trial of a senior member of the deposed regime of Joao Bernardo Vieira, Lusa reported.
Saad’s dismissal on Thursday was contained in a presidential order which gave no explanation for the measure, Lusa said. It came just hours after the Bissau regional court acquitted the former minister of rural development, Avito Jose da Silva, on treason and other charges.
Saad has been replaced by Rui Sanha.
Lusa quoted Judge Armindo Vieira as saying that the three-judge tribunal had wanted to convict da Silva but the prosecution did not provide enough evidence of treason, misuse of public funds, and collaboration with foreign troops - called in by Vieira, then president, in a vain attempt to crush an armed forces rebellion in 1998-99.
Some 100 Vieira supporters, mostly military commanders, are in prison awaiting trial.
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