Nigeria begins mass trials

Nigeria yesterday prepared for its first major prosecutions of suspects linked to the Boko Haram conflict in closed-door trials at a military base.

The defendants have all been arrested and detained since the start of the Islamist insurgency in the country's northeast in 2009.

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The justice ministry announced last month that some 1,670 detainees would go on trial at a civilian court at a military base in Kainji, in the central state of Niger.

A further 651 others held at the Giwa barracks in the capital of the northeastern state of Borno, Maiduguri, would then be tried.

A government source involved in the process told AFP from Kainji that defence and prosecution lawyers arrived early to prepare for the cases.