Holiday delays treason trial

FREETOWN - The trial for treason in Sierra Leone of four British passport holders who are of Chinese and Vietnamese descent was delayed yesterday because the prosecutor is on holiday.

A British diplomat said the brothers Bui Vihn Ly and Bui Hai Ly, and Kelvin Shu Kee Law and Nhat Bui Ly, who face the death penalty if convicted, had run out of money to pay their defence lawyer, and had applied for state counsel.

They are charged with conspiring with a former deputy head of state, Captain Saj Musa, to overthrow the west African country's military government. AP