Guinean court finds former president guilty of crimes against humanity

The landmark trial centered on the events of Sept. 28, 2009, when Guinean security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters calling for democracy inside a stadium in the capital, Conakry. Camara was among 11 leaders, including one of his top aides and two government ministers, who were charged in the case, which kicked off in September 2022 after more than a decade of calls by victims and their families for justice.

More than 150 civilians were killed and more than 100 women raped by forces who then tried to cover it up, according to a United Nations commission and accounts collected by Human Rights Watch. Lawyers for the victims had asked for life sentences for seven of the 11 defendants, including Camara, and reparations for the psychological and physical harm done to victims.

Camara and nine other defendants sat next to each other in court Wednesday, their faces largely implacable as a judge spent several hours reading the charges and verdict in the case. The 11th defendant, Col. Claude Pivi, who was minister for presidential security, escaped from a detention facility in November 2023 and remains at large.

Among those convicted in addition to Camara was Lieutenant Aboubacar Diakité, the former head of the presidential guard, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The judge ordered those convicted to pay victims and their families, in total, the equivalent of nearly $400,000.

“This is a really positive first step,” said Tamara Aburamadan, a counsel in the International Justice Program. “It has been 15 years, and victims are still suffering from physical and psychological trauma.” Aburamadan stressed that it will be essential to carry out the decision.

Four defendants were acquitted.

Human rights experts warned that despite the verdict, there remain concerns about repression by Guinea’s government, which has been since 2021 run by a military junta. Lawyers for both the plaintiffs and defendants boycotted the trial on Wednesday, sending their assistants, because of a nationwide strike announced two weeks ago by the Guinean Bar Association over arbitrary arrests and secret detentions allegedly carried out by the junta.

Two prominent activists from the opposition party were detained three weeks ago and are being held in an undisclosed location. The arrests are part of a broader crackdown on civil liberties that has been documented by Amnesty International and includes the suspension of media outlets and the killing of protesters.

When the trial opened, survivors recounted the horrors they experienced. Djenabou Bah said she was just 9 years old when she headed with her friends to the stadium, where soldiers stabbed and raped her. Oumar Diallo recounted how a soldier broke his arms with a rifle, which prevented him from working as a truck driver for years afterward. Saran Cissé recalled begging security forces to kill her instead of rape her. They did not listen.

“I’m scared,” Cissé said in an interview this week. “I want truth and reparations.”

Cissé said she and other victims are nervous about their safety and that of their families. She said many of those who committed the atrocities in 2009 remain free. “Everyone knows where I live, how I go out, how I dress, everyone knows,” said Cissé, who called for help to leave Conakry, even if just for a few months. “It is the same for all the victims.”

Aminata Soura Diallo, who was stabbed by a soldier in the chest during the protests in 2009, said she did not have enough money to treat her wound after the massacre and has suffered for years afterward.

“We want truth to win,” she said in an interview. “There are many victims who have died, who are sick, who don’t have any hope for reparations.