The trial of Moussa Dadis Camara resumes Monday

2023-11-12 18:35:16

The historic trial of the September 2009 massacre in Guinea will resume on Monday, nine days following the commando operation which extracted four of the accused, including ex-dictator Moussa Dadis Camara, from prison, according to a spokesperson for the trial organization .

Three of the accused, including Moussa Dadis Camara, were recaptured the same day, November 4. One of them, Colonel Claude Pivi, is still on the run and will be absent on Monday unless captured by then. The raid of November 4, which resulted in nine deaths according to the authorities, raised concerns for the continuation of the trial which opened on November 28, 2022 following years of waiting for the victims. Despite this, authorities said the trial would continue.

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Abdoulaye Djibril Diallo, spokesperson for the organization, announced on state television on Saturday evening that the trial would resume on Monday. He had been suspended for three weeks, first at the request of the prosecution to prepare for witness hearings, then due to a lawyers’ strike, independent of the trial or the events of November 4. Moussa Dadis Camara and ten other former officials answer for a series of crimes committed in September 2009, including murders, acts of torture, rapes and kidnappings, perpetrated by security forces in a stadium in and around the suburbs of Conakry, gathering thousands of opposition supporters.

At least 156 people were killed, hundreds injured, and at least 109 women raped, according to the report of a commission of inquiry mandated by the UN. Judges and lawyers have questioned defendants and civil parties over the past year. After the November 4 escape, the ruling junta carried out a purge in the security and prison services, dismissing around 60 officers, soldiers and agents. A Justice Ministry official said on condition of anonymity that around sixty people had been arrested.

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The Minister of Justice Alphonse Charles Wright spoke of complicity within the security services. Human Rights Watch expressed concern for the safety of victims of the massacre, and the Bar reported “blunders and (ex) exactions” during the hunt for Claude Pivi, asking the state to protect the lawyers of those accused of the massacre .

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