Historic verdict on 2009 bloodbath ‘feels like a blow in opposition to impunity’, however army rulers proceed to crack down on opposition and media.
A court docket in Guinea has sentenced former army chief Moussa Dadis Camara to twenty years in jail for crimes in opposition to humanity.
Guinea’s legal court docket introduced its verdict Wednesday after a two-year trial over the chief’s lethal crackdown on an opposition rally at a stadium within the suburbs of the capital Conakry in 2009, the place his forces killed not less than 156 folks and raped 109 girls, in response to a United Nations-appointed fee of inquiry.
The court docket had introduced that the fees, which included homicide, rape, torture and kidnapping, can be categorised as crimes in opposition to humanity earlier than sentencing Camara and 7 different army commanders. 4 different defendants had been acquitted.
Greater than 100 survivors and kin of victims testified on the trial that started in 2022, greater than a decade after members of Camara’s presidential guard, troopers, police and militias dedicated the bloodbath.
The court docket ordered the victims to be paid compensation starting from 200 million to 1.5 billion Guinean francs (US$23,000 to US$174,000).
Some victims’ kin hailed the decision as justice ultimately, whereas others mentioned the sentence for Camara, who escaped from jail in November final 12 months throughout an armed breakout however was later recaptured, was not sufficient.
“The sentences don’t correspond to the crimes. Our sisters had been raped, our brothers had been massacred, there are our bodies reported lacking,” says Safiatou Balde, 25, a relative of one of many victims.
Alfa Amadou DS Bah, lead counsel for the plaintiffs within the case, burdened the significance of the judgment.
“That is the primary time {that a} former head of state has been convicted of such critical crimes, and likewise high-ranking army officers,” he mentioned. “I believe this determination ought to be a blow in opposition to impunity on this nation.”
Human Rights Watch additionally welcomed the ruling, which “sends discover to these most liable for crimes in Guinea and elsewhere that justice can prevail,” mentioned Tamara Aburamadan, worldwide justice authorized adviser for the rights group.
Protection legal professionals had argued that reclassifying the fees as crimes in opposition to humanity on the day of sentencing would deprive the defendants of the chance to defend themselves and infringe on their proper to a good trial.
Each the defendants and the plaintiffs have 15 days to attraction the decision.
The trial occurred in opposition to a backdrop of constant repression by Guinea’s army rulers in opposition to the opposition and the media.
