Abdulla Luthufee, the mastermind behind the 1988 coup d’état has been sentenced after being found guilty of fleeing from prison after being granted medical leave while serving a 25-year prison sentence during 2010.

The Criminal Court sentenced Luthufee to seven months and 18 days in prison on Wednesday.

The 3 November 1988 coup-leader’s sentencing comes a week after he requested a plea deal for his sentencing, after having confessed to the charges against him on March 3.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Luthufee requested arrangements to transfer him to house arrest, as he has been serving his sentence for nearly 23 years behind bars, which has in turn affected his health. Luthufee has three years left on his sentence on charges on orchestrating the 1988 coup.

In response state prosecutors noted that he is being convicted for fleeing prison while seeking healthcare abroad, in the first place.

The court revealed that the initial sentence would have been nine months and 18 days in prison, however, it was reduced as Luthufee had pled guilty.

The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) forwarded the charges against the mastermind behind the 1988 coup d’état on March 2, 2020, under section 537 of the Maldives Penal Code.

The fugitive fled from prison and went into hiding until May 1, 2019 after departing to India during January 2010 under medical leave granted to him during the administration of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed.

In May 2019, he was extradited to the Maldives and is currently doing time at Maafushi Prison, after turning himself into the Maldivian Embassy in Colombo earlier that month.

He turned himself in after the country launched a nation-wide search for him, following the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019.

The lives of 19 Maldivians were taken during the attempted coup in the Maldives capital on November 3, 1988 by a Sri Lankan militant group. Luthufee was initially sentenced to death due to his involvement, but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment by Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Although he was granted medical leave during Nasheed’s tenure, now incarcerated Former President Abdulla Yameen’s administration was observed to be negligent in the case as well.

Many had criticized the move to have Luthufee repatriated to the Maldives like an “innocent” man in July 2019.