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Opposition candidate for the 2016 presidential election, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko has been found guilty for his alleged involvement in a coup attempt.
The Congolese general and opposition leader Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, 71, has therefore been sentenced to 20 years in jail for undermining the security of the state .
He however referred the trial to settlement of political scores.
The former candidate in the 2016 presidential election has three days to file an appeal, said criminal court president Christian Oba.
The court also sentenced in absentia seven co-accused including six French and a Congolese for complicity.
Arrested in June 2016. General Mokoko, former Chief of Staff, was advisor to President Denis Sassou Nguesso whom he finally challenged in the 2016 presidential election.
He was arrested in June 2016 after refusing with other candidates to recognize the re-election of President Sassou Nguesso who cumulates nearly 35 years of power.
His defense claims that he holds his immunity from his title of “dignitary of the Republic”, an argument refuted by the prosecution.
“It is a judgment that satisfies us considering the gravity of the offense and the elements involved in the case”, declared one of the lawyers of the Congolese State, Me Gérard Deviller.
