A trial has begun at the Federal High Court in Abuja for five suspected militants from the Islamist group Ansaru. They are accused of kidnapping 39 schoolchildren and seven teachers in Oyo State in southwestern Nigeria, according to infohub.kz.
Mahmud Muhammad, Abubakar Abbas, Abdulrazak Umar, Yunusa Musa and Shamsu Sani pleaded not guilty to seven terrorism-related charges.
Prosecutors allege that on May 15, armed men stormed the schools, opened fire and took the children and teachers into a forest. The captives spent 56 days there.
The prosecution also requested protection for witnesses due to the sensitivity of the case. The court granted the request.
If convicted, the defendants face between 20 years and life in prison. If the kidnappings are proven to have resulted in deaths, Nigerian law allows for the death penalty.
In July, the presidential administration announced the release of 39 schoolchildren and six teachers. Eight suspected kidnappers were arrested.
During the rescue operation in May, one teacher was killed and several security personnel were wounded by an explosive device.
Kidnappings for ransom remain a serious problem in Nigeria. However, mass attacks on schools in the country's southwestern states had been less frequent until recently.
Earlier, Kursiv reported on the kidnapping of three hundred children and teachers from St. Mary's Catholic School in Niger State in north-central Nigeria.