Colonel charged in Papua New Guinea coup

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Col. Yaura Sasa, the reputed leader of a failed military attempt to topple Papua New Guinea's civilian government, is under arrest, authorities say.

Police said Sasa was arrested at a lodge in the Port Moresby suburb of Boroko Saturday night and made a brief appearance in court Sunday in Waigani, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Sasa said after the hearing that he was innocent of the mutiny charge and complained about his treatment at the hands of authorities

"Last night when I was down at the police headquarters I had no access to a lawyer up until now, so the procedures that I went through, it doesn't seem right," he said.

On Thursday, Sasa and about 20 other soldiers took the commander of the defense force hostage and demanded Michael Somare be reinstated as prime minister.

The coup was over by the end of the day and the commander was freed. Somare has yet to comment on the incident, ABC said.