Tito Belo, Dili – An East Timor court jailed on Wednesday 27 people for between nine and 17 years over the attempted assassination of President Jose Ramos-Horta and an attack on the prime minister, while freeing an Australian.

Nobel laureate Ramos-Horta was shot and badly wounded when mutinous soldiers loyal to rebel leader Alfredo Reinado attacked his Dili home in early 2008. Reinado was killed during the ensuing shoot-out. East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unharmed in a separate attack on his house.

Twenty-seven defendants were jailed at the Dili district court on charges including possession of weapons and attempted assassination related to the two attacks.

But Angelita Pires, an East Timor-born Australian woman and the girlfriend of Reinado, was cleared of helping the group of rebel soldiers involved in the attacks.

"Angelita Pires is free because she is not responsible for the assassination attack on February 11 and the ambush of the prime minister's convoy," said judge Constancio Basmeri.

"At the time, she acted as counsellor to Alfredo Reinado but she had no intention of killing the president and prime minister."

Pires said after the verdict that she would continue to fight for the other defendants. "I will stand and defend my colleagues who are certainly innocent and I will do everything I can to bring the real assassins to justice," she said.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony which was invaded and occupied by Indonesia in 1975, achieved full independence in 2002, but has struggled to achieve stability.

Foreign troops were sent in to restore order after the army tore apart along regional lines in 2006, when about 600 soldiers were sacked, triggering factional violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes.

Security since then appears to have improved, although the 2008 assassination attempt was a major setback for the tiny nation.

[Writing by Sunanda Creagh; Editing by Ed Davies and Sugita Katyal.]