Brigadier David Lansana | Former Sierra Leone Army Chief | Extradition Hearing | Liberia | June 1968

Footage of the extradition hearing of Brigadier David Lansana, the former Army Commander of Sierra Leone, held in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia.

Brigadier Lansana had led a military coup in 1967 after a disputed election. He deposed Prime Minister Siaka Stevens, but was himself removed from power by officers under his command and posted to New York to serve as the country's Consul-General.

After a revolt by the junior ranks of the Sierra Leone Army toppled the military regime, Brigadier Lansana was recalled home by the now restored Siaka Stevens.

The Brigadier refused to return home and instead sought refuge in Liberia.

The Sierra Leone government then sought extradition proceedings, citing a treaty signed between Britain and its dependent territories and Liberia in 1892. Lansana's lawyers rejected the treaty as redundant owing to the fact that Sierra Leone had become an independent nation.