Maldives army on Wednesday denied sending a letter to president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom asking him to release jailed former defence minister Mohamed Nazim.
Nazim was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he was convicted of weapons possession after police found a hand gun in his residence. However, neither his DNA nor fingerprints was found on the weapon.
The Supreme Court however, upheld the verdict of the High Court despite DNA recovered from the pistol that matched former vice president Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor's DNA profile, who is currently serving 33 years for multiple accounts of terrorism and graft.
Adheeb had recently expressed his wish to reveal the truth behind the hand gun found in Nazim's residence. In the letter to the Supreme Court, Adheeb had claimed that he was aware of the "truth" behind the gun and was to reveal the perpetrators who orchestrated the whole affair.
A message circulating on social media had said several top army officers had written to the president asking him to release the former minister.
However, army spokesperson Brigadier General Zakariyya Mansoor denied the rumours insisting that no soldier would push for the release of a convict.