Nigeria: Army Acquits 57 Soldiers Sentenced to Death in December

A special court martial of the Nigerian Army has reportedly discharged an

d acquitted 57 soldiers who were sentenced to death last December.

The soldiers were charged with losing their weapons and going on an Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL) in the heat of Boko Haram insurgency in December 2014.

The soldiers were charged with conspiracy to commit mutiny after their re

volt led to the death of some of their colleagues in a duel with insurgents.

They had claimed that their weapons were inferior to the enemy's at the time.

The court martial, which sat at the Army Headquarters Garrison in Abuja, however, convicted 15 other accused soldiers, sentencing them to one year prison sentences each.

A source in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), confirmed the report.