Texas businessman gets year in prison for failed Gambia coup
Source: Reuters
Thu May 12, 2016 9:38pm EDT
Texas businessman gets year in prison for failed Gambia coup
By Steve Gorman
A Texas businessman convicted of plotting to violate the U.S. Neutrality Act in a failed 2014 bid to overthrow the government of Gambia and install himself as president of the tiny African nation was sentenced on Thursday to a year in prison. Two other U.S. citizens of Gambian descent who pleaded guilty with the coup plot leader, Cherno Njie, 58, received six-month prison terms, and a third was sentenced to time already served, federal prosecutors said.
The below-guideline sentences, more lenient than those recommended by federal prosecutors, were handed down by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle in Minnesota, where the case originated.
Ben Petok, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota, declined to comment on the rationale for the relatively light punishment leveled against the four men.
But prosecutors' sentencing memoranda stated the defendants "were motivated by a fervent desire to overthrow a regime (they) believed to be inhumane and oppressive," noting the U.S. government "has long been critical" of Gambia's human rights record.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gambia-plot-idUSKCN0Y403Y?rpc=401
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