mauritania frees coup plotters in amnesty

Mauritania frees 'coup' plotters in amnesty

November 28 2006 at 03:42PM

Nouakchott - Mauritania has freed five men close to deposed president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya who were charged with plotting a coup against the military regime which toppled him last year.

The release of the two senior military officials and three civilians was part of a package of measures to celebrate the 46th anniversary of Mauritania's independence from France, including a 50 percent increase in public sector salaries.

The military junta, which ended Taya's 21 years of authoritarian rule with a bloodless coup in August 2005, has pledged a full transition to democracy with presidential polls in March.

"To demonstrate the spirit of tolerance which marks this transition an amnesty will be given for those charged with attempts against state security and the constitutional regime," the head of the military council, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, said in an address on state television and radio on Monday.




The five men included the former head of the navy, his businessman son, a ex-ambassador to the United Nations and a former senior army official.

They were charged with "a plot to reverse the constitutional order", the formal term for a coup plot, and were facing sentences ranging from 20 years imprisonment with hard labour to life in prison.

The men admitted their links to Taya but had denied the charges. Their lawyers confirmed they had been released on Monday.

They were arrested on June 19, just days before Mauritanians approved far-reaching constitutional reforms in a referendum aimed at curtailing presidential powers.

The wage increase, which takes effect at the start of next year, was the second major hike in public sector salaries announced by the military regime, following a 50 percent pay rise in January.

Pensions for public sector workers will also rise by 20 percent, Vall said.

Public officials say that a crackdown on widespread corruption under the new government has left government coffers full, allowing the rise in wages for ordinary workers.