The Attorney General of Conakry, appointed by the junta in power in Guinea since 2021, announced on Wednesday May 4 the prosecution of former President Alpha Condé for “Murders”, “acts of torture” et “kidnappings” particularly.
Twenty-six other personalities and senior officials under his presidency are also targeted. Among the latter, whose names appear on a list communicated by the prosecutor, are a former president of the Constitutional Court, former presidents of the Assembly, a former prime minister and a host of former ministers, deputies and officials security services.
According to the document, the magistrate gave “instructions for prosecution by way of information” once morest Mr. Condé and these twenty-six other people for “murder, assassination and complicity”, “enforced disappearances”, “detentions”, “kidnappings”, “acts of torture”, “intentional assault and battery”, “rape and sexual assault” or “acts of looting”.
Prosecution instruction “without delay”
In view of the requisitions of the Attorney General, the investigations seem to mainly target the last two years of the Condé presidency. The magistrate clarified in a message to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that these proceedings were launched following a complaint from the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), a collective which for months led, from October 2019, the protest once morest a third term of Alpha Condé.
The repression of these protests, often brutal in this country accustomed to political violence, left dozens dead, almost all civilians. This mobilization did not prevent Mr. Condé, who in 2010 became the first democratically elected president following decades of authoritarian or dictatorial regimes, from being re-elected in October 2020 following having the Constitution amended at the start of the year.
Human rights defenders denounced the authoritarian drift of the Condé presidency in his last years. Mr. Condé, 84 years old today, was overthrown on September 5 during a putsch led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya at the head of the special forces.
The FNDC has since continued to demand justice. The complaint filed in January in his name by a French law firm named Mr. Condé as the main person responsible for the violence. In his requisitions, sent to journalists, the Attorney General instructs the prosecutor of Dixinn (in the suburbs of Conakry) under his authority to initiate proceedings ” without delay “.
Thirty-nine month transition period
He asks him to prohibit the persons targeted by the investigations from leaving the territory, and to have all their property seized as a precaution. He also instructed him to have the necessary international arrest warrants issued once morest persons found outside the country.
Mr. Condé, kept prisoner by the military following the putsch, had finally authorized, in January, to go to the United Arab Emirates to be cared for. He returned to Guinea in mid-April. The junta ensures that he is free to move.
Since the September 2021 coup, Colonel Doumbouya has been enthroned as president. He pledged to return power to elected civilians. After keeping his timetable vague, he has just announced that the so-called transition period which would precede the return of civilians to power and during which he says he wants a “refoundation” of the country would last thirty-nine months. This announcement exposes the country to tougher sanctions from the ECOWAS organization, which is calling for a much shorter transition.
Colonel Doumbouya assured on taking power that there would be no ” witch hunt “ but that justice would be “compass” from the country. The military proclaim the fight once morest corruption deemed endemic as one of their great battles. Some officials targeted by the Attorney General’s requisitions, starting with former Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, have already been imprisoned for alleged financial embezzlement.
