At the historic trial of the September 28, 2009 massacre in Guinea, one of the darkest pages in the country’s modern history, the prosecutor requested life imprisonment against former President Moussa Dadis Camara and several other officials. Magistrate Alghassimou Diallo requested that the sentence be accompanied by a 30-year safety period, and demanded that the facts be reclassified as crimes against humanity through murder, assassinations, torture, kidnapping and rape.
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With our correspondent in Conakry, Matthias Raynal
After the end of the pleadings of the lawyers of the civil parties, Tuesday, it was the turn of the public prosecutor to take the floor and reveal its indictment, this Wednesday, in the trial which is being held in Guinea. And the prosecutor therefore requested life imprisonment for Moussa Dadis Camaraas well as for several other people responsible at the time of the September 28 massacre.
The prosecutors started by going back in time. One of them reviewed the history, from colonization to the organization of the trial. A long introductory statement to remind us that this country “ is a family “, and that'” no Guinean is superior to the other “. Hence the request for a security period of 30 years, plus the reclassification of the facts.
Moussa Tiegboro Camara, the former boss of the anti-drugs, Abdoulaye Cherif Diaby, ex-minister of health, Marcel Guilavogui, Dadis’ protégé at the time, Blaise Goumou, a gendarme member of the anti-drugs , Claude Pivi, the former minister of presidential security and currently on the run. All should be sentenced to life imprisonment, said the prosecutor.
The controversial case of Toumba
The requisitions still held some surprises. The prosecution opted for a much lighter sentence, 15 years in prison, for three defendants. Ibrahima Camara, known as Kalonzo, and Paul Mansa Guilavogui, two soldiers of no real stature, but also Aboubakar Diakité. The one we nickname Toumba. In recent months, he has become the darling of social networks throughout the sub-region. For his repartee and for having also agreed to say during this trial, “ his part of truth “. Many are calling on the Internet for his outright acquittal.
The lawyers for the civil parties insisted, however, during their pleadings, on the role played by Toumba in the stadium massacre. A massacre where more than 150 people lost their lives. The victims’ lawyers are convinced, Toumba went to the stadium on September 28, 2009 to participate in the repression.
It was with Toumba’s former bodyguard, Cécé Raphaël Haba, and Mamadou Aliou Keïta that the prosecution was most magnanimous. The prosecutor demanded 14 years in prison for the two, including Mamadou Aliou Keïta, although accused of rape by a victim who formally admitted it. It must be remembered that these are requisitions. It is up to the court to follow them or not when it establishes its verdict.
Soon the time for the verdict
It rained this day on the tin roof of the Dixinn criminal court, the crash of the water on the aluminum covering the intervention of the public prosecutor, almost inaudible. The courtroom was plunged into torpor, the prison guards dozing in their blue armchairs, while the prosecutor provided a long reminder of the facts, emphasizing the contradictions of the accused.
After the indictment, it was planned that the defense lawyers would be able to speak. There are around fifteen of them. And then, it will be time for the verdict. The end of the trial of the September 28 massacre at the stadium in the capital, Conakry, is fast approaching.
As a reminder, on September 28, 2009, at least 156 people were killed by bullets, knives, machetes or bayonets, and more than a hundred women were raped, with hundreds of people also injured, according to the report of an international commission of inquiry mandated by the UN. The actual numbers are probably higher.
We are entirely satisfied with the public prosecutor’s requisitions. They live up to the crimes committed at the stadium. So the proposed sentences are acceptable from our point of view.
The reactions of the lawyers of the civil parties and the defense after the requisitions of the public prosecutor
Read alsoSeptember 28 trial in Guinea: the civil parties demand life imprisonment and annoy Dadis Camara