2023-06-21 19:11:28
The historic trial of former Guinean dictator Moussa Dadis Camara, tried for a massacre committed on September 28, 2009, was once more adjourned on Wednesday when it was to resume following three weeks of suspension, noted an AFP correspondent. .
After a boycott by lawyers, it was a strike by prison guards which, in the absence of the accused, caused the trial to be adjourned to July 10.
Former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara and a dozen former military and government officials have been answering since September 28, 2022 before the judges for dozens of assassinations and a litany of crimes of sexual violence, acts of torture, kidnappings and kidnappings , committed in a stadium in the suburbs of Conakry and surrounding areas on September 28, 2009 and the following days.
This trial had been suspended since May 29, the lawyers refusing to plead because they said they had still not been paid.
An agreement has been reached with the authorities. But while the lawyers were back in the courtroom on Wednesday morning, the defendants were missing, which led the court to postpone the case.
Read also: Moussa Dadis Camara says he was removed from power in Guinea by a “conspiracy”
The guards went on strike in all remand prisons in the country with several demands, including an increase in wages, according to a statement made at the civil prison in Conakry.
This is a new disappointment for the victims and their relatives who expect a lot from this trial, the first of its kind in a country ruled for decades by authoritarian regimes.
The NGO Human Rights Watch was alarmed last week by the uncertainties regarding the future of the trial.
At least 156 people were killed and hundreds injured and at least 109 women were raped on September 28, 2009 and the following days, according to the report of a UN-mandated international commission of inquiry. The actual numbers are likely higher.
Read also: Former Guinean leader Camara denies responsibility in 2009 massacre trial
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