2023 Makko Oko coup d'état
| 2023 Makko Oko coup d'état | |||
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| Part of the Ashgate Scandal | |||
| Date | 11 November 2023 | ||
| Location | Emperor's Imperial Palace Opposh, Makko Oko | ||
| Goals | Removal of the current Emperor Conall Solis and establishment of a new Emperor | ||
| Resulted in | Coup failed, many killed and arrested | ||
| Parties to the civil conflict | |||
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On November 11th, 2023, the Minister of Energy, Infrastructure & Environment Rochelle Vangelis launched a coup d'état on the Empire of Makko Oko that failed after 3 hours of intense fighting. Rochelle had put together a group of disgruntled citizens found through contacts and through the prison system with Rochelle using their influence to have some of the protestors from November 4th freed. The group had amassed up to 5,000 men, and a tactical plan had been established as to how to execute it perfectly. They had determined that then was the only moment to do it, and the right time to do it. The aim was to remove Emperor Conall Solis from the throne and let a new Emperor take their place after the events of Ashgate.
Background
Before the coup
A radiation poisoning outbreak had occurred and the government was trying to contain it and stop the fatalities. Unfortunately, on October 14th, 2023, almost a month before the coup, the Minister of Health Danika Hicks said something that would start the Ashgate Scandal. A couple days later, she was successfully impeached by the Emperor's Law Council on a 13-2-8 vote, with the two neutral votes being the Minister of Diplomatic Affairs and the Minister of Energy, Infrastructure & Environment.
The scandal led to a massive protest at the palace on November 4th, 2023 that would see 10,000 people chanting "Disclose or Abdicate" at the building and the Emperor. A petition with over a billion signatures said the same thing. Over 5,000 were arrested that day.
The coup
After the protests were over, about 2 weeks of silence from the government was in effect, and it appeared as if the citizens didn't care as much after the first day. The anger was slowly going away and being forgotten. One cabinet minister, Rochelle Vangelis, did not forget, however and they saw the need for a new Emperor. Reports on the coup state that Rochelle had no co-conspirators, although they had amassed an army of 5,000 strong. Due to the government forbidding news on the coup, there are conflicting reports on what happened that day and when it officially begun. Officials internally from all departments aren't sure when it started.
At the time, both the Minister of Justice and Minister of Internal Security were in their own personal offices at the palace, with the other ministers at their government building or elsewhere. A redacted report from the Ministry of Defense stated that the Minister of Internal Security was found dead with a gunshot round to the heart, with their phone on the floor.
Emperor's Lockdown
The situation got severe enough to call for the first palace lockdown in the history of the Empire, according to accounts by confidential informants. Emperor Solis was taken to an undisclosed location until the situation at the palace was handled. A highly redacted NSS report stated that "[...] the Emperor was shot at from behind with multiple pistol rounds from [REDACTED]. NSS agents quickly subdued [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. They were [REDACTED]". The Emperor lived, and then later returned to the palace and gave a national address to the people.
Members
Investigations and arrests
After the incident was confirmed over by the top brass at the Ministry of Defense, investigations at multiple of the top law enforcement agencies in the government began. At the National Police Coordination Centre in Opposh, MOJ had the lead on finding out how the weapons were obtained and how many other people were involved and their motivations. The CMA-ATI had the lead on tracking down where the weapons came from, and to see if they were in the national database. The NSS and IEC coordinated on a thorough check of all government officials in deep background checks and the FIS had the lead on determining any foreign interference, motivations or involvement.
CMA-ATI agents raided a warehouse in January 2024 said to contain at least three cases of military-grade weapons and ammunition said to have been imported illegally, found through an anonymous tip. The weapons were located and a half dozen TCEEA and HBP agents were charged with corruption, conspiracy to commit terrorism and the unlawful import of controlled materials. A later plea bargain led to finding the people responsible for the importation of the weapons and they got charged with terrorism, the unlawful import of controlled materials, the unlawful export or sale of controlled materials, the unlawful use of controlled materials and people who were citizens were charged with treason.
Cabinet Audit
Days after the coup happened and Rochelle was indicted, Emperor Solis ordered a full-scale audit of the entire executive and military cabinets. Everybody was investigated, questioned, interviewed and polygraphed by IEC Inspectors. The audit took about 3 weeks, ending on December 4th, 2023, with over 200 officials arrested by the conclusion of it. Post-audit, Emperor Solis began mandating loyalty oaths on all new hires within the IEC and Office of Public Orders Enforcement (OPOE). An anonymous officials was reported as saying at the time of the audits: "People are going crazy worried about being shipped to Ukugas and never seen again. People acting more holy than god himself walking into every government office, every government building, even your homes, taking everything you own and have ever worked on, and analyzing it piece by piece to check for discrepancies. They are the tax inspectors on crack."
Arrests
Rochelle Vangelis
Rochelle Vangelis was indicted the day after the event on charges of treason, conspiracy to commit treason, inciting an insurrection against the state, one count of serious murder and attempted murder of government or military officials. Rochelle had been identified by the Minister of Justice Sara Mauer as having shot and killed the Minister of Internal Security Miguel Kellison in redacted reports released in January 2025. All court hearings were privately held, with only court filings being made public at the time. The case was quiet with little pieces of information leaking out once in a while.
On December 10th, 2023, five days after the Anti-Terrorism Act took effect, Rochelle's indictments were amended to include the new charges of "encouragement of terroristic acts", conspiracy to commit terrorism and terrorism, with the prosecution invoking an article of the act to revoke their right to free legal aid and thus removing his lawyer. The Emperor's Court threw out the conspiracy of terrorism charge while approving the order to strip Rochelle of legal aid citing in a later released report: "There is no action or precedent that establishes multiple separate charges for the same offense, however on orders of legal aid while dangerous are inherently legal under the invocations and allowed indictments". On December 11th, 2023, only a day later, Rochelle by himself had to appeal the order to revoke legal aid and cited a "kangaroo court of an action on the part of my former employer. I tried to protect my people, my nation, and that should be rewarded. Not penalized." He went on to say that he could not successfully defend himself as he was not versed in laws nor prevent himself from death, which was grimly cited as "a sentence of which can never be walked back".
The Emperor's Court held a public en banc hearing on the matter on January 14th, 2024, then published a ruling on February 2nd determining that the article was "illegal on the grounds of inability to afford private representation. Normally this would not raise a problem for the court, however where the state is seeking death, the best representation they can get shall be afforded to them." and voided the order effective immediately. The state appealed the decision to the Appellate Court of Appeals who ruled on April 3rd in favor of the original ruling. A final appeal by the state was filed to the Supreme Court on April 10th, 2024, with an added petition to strip Rochelle of citizenship under Article 12 of the Basic Rights. They determined in State v. Rochelle that one cannot be stripped of citizenship under Article 12 unless they are convicted of high crimes, denying the petition to strip Rochelle's citizenship and establishing parameters whereby a court can revoke citizenship, in addition to striking down the order to terminate legal aid.
Finally on June 16th, 2024, he was convicted on all charges and was sentenced to death, as sought after by the state. The prosecution had petitioned the court for an immediate execution order but got denied by the court. They were then imprisoned awaiting execution, however Rochelle appealed the verdict later that month, suspending the execution until further notice.
The appeal of the verdict hedged on the basis that Rochelle was being charged with crimes that were nonexistent at the time of the offense. The Appellate Court of Appeals ruled against the appeal, stating: "There is historical reasoning behind pre-crime indictments of offenders. Some crimes avail themselves through concepts that would have been illegal had human nature thought of it. Humans make mistakes, and henceforth why this practice exists." Rochelle appealed to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the ruling by the Appellate Court. They declined to hear it and he was ultimately executed by firing squad on February 20th, 2025.
Jose Brogan
Low-Level Members
Many low-level people were arrested, some of whom were caught as a result of the January raids by the CMA. Plea bargains were given to about 1.2% of those captured in exchange for any useful information on more members, additionally planned attacks or coups and for information on the leadership composition. The information led to foiling a major plot known as the Hilger Plot, which aimed to take out the national communication systems and then taking out the entire cabinet with a homemade bomb. As a low-level member, you had about a 40% chance of being executed, unless you got a plea bargain, in which case you would be immune to the death penalty. Only 15% of those convicted had been executed as of 2027.
