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Manila: A Philippine military court dismissed from service yesterday eleven junior officers linked to a 2003 mutiny that called for the overthrow of President Gloria Arroyo.
They pleaded guilty to the charge of "conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman," but still face a more serious allegation in a civil court of plotting a coup d'etat along with eleven co-defendants.
Nine other soldiers were convicted by the same civil court of planning to overthrow the government in April and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but Arroyo pardoned them a month later.
About 300 officers and troops occupied a hotel and an adjacent shopping mall in the Makati financial district and rigged the area with bombs on July 27, 2003.
They demanded that Arroyo and other officials resign for alleged corruption, but surrendered after a 19-hour standoff.
Six remaining trials
Only six of the original mutineers remain under military trial. Charges against others have been dismissed or lowered in a plea bargain.
Among those still in military detention was former navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes, who won a Senate seat in 2007.
Another prominent mutineer, marine Captain Nicanor Faeldon, escaped in November when he, Trillanes and others walked out of their trial and occupied another five-star hotel.
Major General Nathaniel Legaspi, the military court's president, said the verdict will become final once Arroyo approves it. It wasn't clear when that will happen.
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