“Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has been found alive and well and has been returned to prison,” an army spokesman told AFP, without elaborating on the circumstances surrounding the arrest.
Jocamey Haba, one of Mr Dadis Camara’s lawyers, told AFP that his client was back behind bars.
The country’s justice minister, Charles Alphonse Wright, said earlier Saturday that armed attackers stormed the main prison in Guinea’s capital in the early hours of the morning and “managed to escape from the building with four [kaliniais]… especially captain Moussa Dadisu Camara”.
He then also announced the closure of the West African country’s borders.
It is not clear whether Mr. Dadis Camara escaped from prison voluntarily.
Other escapees included Claude Pivi and Blaise Goumou, said Ch. A. Wright.
“We will find them. And the responsible persons will be brought to justice,” the minister told the local radio “Fim FM” in the morning.
The military called the operation by the attackers an attempt to sabotage government reforms and vowed its firm commitment to the current military-led government.
An AFP source in the judiciary, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the masked and well-armed soldiers who arrived at Conakry’s central prison said they were there to free Mr Dadis Camaros.
Inside, the group turned toward his cell, apparently already knowing its location, the source said.
Mr Haba told AFP he believed his client had been kidnapped and his life was in danger.
“He trusts the justice of his country, so he would never try to escape,” he added, referring to the ongoing trial of Mr. Dadis Camara.
Mr. Dadis Camara, who came to power in a 2008 coup, was arrested for the stadium massacre during his brief tenure. After surviving an assassination attempt, he lived in exile for many years and returned to his homeland at the end of 2021.
Guinea is one of several African countries that have experienced coups since 2020.
Guinean junta leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya came to power in a coup in September 2021 after 11 years of civilian rule.
Dadis Camara is one of more than a dozen suspects facing charges over the 2009 massacre, when Guinean security forces fired on peaceful demonstrators protesting his intention to run for president after he seized power. Human rights groups say at least 157 people have been killed.
If convicted, the suspects face up to life in prison.
The international commission investigating the killings said it was an unprecedented trial in a country ruled by authoritarian regimes for decades and where people have grown accustomed to impunity by security forces.
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2024-10-04 19:35:26
