Comoros Ex-President Sentenced To Life Imprisonment For ‘High Treason’
Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, the former president of the Comoros, was given a life sentence on Monday for high treason after being found guilty of selling passports to stateless persons residing in the Gulf.
Sambi, 64, a fierce foe of President Azali Assoumani, received a sentence from the State Security Court, a unique tribunal whose decisions are final.
In his appeal for a life sentence last week, public prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid said, “He abandoned the mission entrusted to him by the Comorians.”
A law authorizing the selling of passports for hefty prices was pushed through in 2008 by Sambi, the leader of the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago from 2006 to 2011.
The program was intended for the so-called bidoon, a sizeable Arab minority who are denied citizenship.
According to the allegations, the former president embezzled millions of dollars.
The cost, according to the prosecution, exceeded $1.8 billion, which is greater than the GDP of the underdeveloped country.
Eric Emmanuel Sossa, an attorney for civilian litigants, said: “They granted thugs the power to sell Comorian nationality as if they were selling peanuts.”
However, Sambi’s French attorney Jean-Gilles Halimi claimed that there was “no evidence” of missing money or bank accounts to support a crime.
After making a brief appearance at the first hearing, Sambi declined to show up for the trial because his attorneys claimed there was no guarantee he would be treated fairly.
His first charges were for corruption, but those were then changed to high treason because that crime “does not exist under Comorian law,” according to Halimi.
Before going on trial, Sambi had already served four years in prison, significantly longer than the allowed eight months. He was initially put under home arrest for upsetting the peace.