In Guinea, opponent Aliou Bah returns to prison. After its opening this Tuesday morning, December 31 in Conakry, the trial of the president of the MoDeL party (Liberal Democratic Movement) has been postponed until next Thursday, January 2. Aliou Bah was arrested last week on the Sierra Leonean border on his way to the capital Freetown. The opponent is being prosecuted for “insulting and defaming the head of state”, General Mamadi Doumbouya. Aliou Bah is one of the most critical political voices of the CNRD junta and the management of the transition. He denounces a political trial and rejects outright the accusations made against him.
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It is with extracts from the numerous videos published on his social networks that the public prosecutor justifies the prosecution against Aliou Bah.
During this first hearing, the Kaloum court of first instance broadcast the videos concerned, in which the opponent denounces the serial kidnappings, as well as the silence of religious guides on the widespread repression in Guinea.
But according to his lawyers, no offensive or defamatory remarks against President Mamadi Doumbouya were made by Aliou Bah. Me Pépé Antoine Lamah considers this trial as “ a cabal to silence (his client) using the fallacious pretext of insulting the head of state “.
The lawyer speaks of a political trial and a “ arbitrary detention » from his client, explaining that several dysfunctions mar the legal proceedings, from the arrest of the opponent.
Aliou Bah’s defense sees no other way out than his ” relax pure and simple » next Thursday.
He is accused of insulting the head of state because he allegedly said that the state is responsible for forced disappearances and kidnappings, but also that religious leaders have a certain moral responsibility to remind decision-makers and leaders of their obligations. to protect citizens in the current context of kidnappings. In the understanding of the public prosecutor, the offense is to say that if the leaders are responsible and the State is responsible, that means that Mr. Aliou Bah is accusing the president or General Mamadi Doumbouya, president of the Transition , to be responsible for kidnappings. It’s a bit like the logic of the public prosecutor’s office. Mr. Aliou Bah, in the various videos that they have produced objectively, he only tells truths about the functioning of the country, about the current context of crisis, fear and even the context of repression. He puts his finger where it hurts, telling truths and insulting are two. So, I believe that the public prosecutor is completely wrong about the legal characterization of the facts with which he is accused because at no time do we hear outrageous or at least offensive comments.
For his lawyer Me Halimatou Camara: Mr. Aliou Bah “only tells the truth about the functioning of the country”
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