TheCable

The Nigerian army will arraign 60 out of the 97 soldiers facing the general military court martial at the Mogadishu cantonment, Abuja, on Wednesday.

The general court martial, headed by Musa Yusuf, a brigadier-general, was inaugurated on October 2, 2014. However, it adjourned to October 15 for proceedings to commence. It did not try any case after the inauguration.

The soldiers are being tried for various offences ranging from mutiny to other acts of misdemeanour in ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the northeast.

At the inauguration of the court martial, the president of the court had assured the soldiers on trial that no innocent person would be wrongfully convicted.

Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria, who is representing 68 of the soldiers facing trial, had also expressed confidence in the members of the court. He said he had no reason to doubt their integrity and he expected justice to be done.

The army had earlier court-martialled 18 soldiers, 12 of whom were issued a death sentence, on September 16.

Five were discharged and acquitted, while the remaining one was jailed for 28 days with hard labour.