Ex-Guinean military leader gets 20 years for crimes against humanity

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Guinea’s former military ruler Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was found guilty of crimes against humanity at a court in the capital Conakry and sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday in connection with massacres that occurred in 2009 in the West African country.

The charges are in connection with the Sept. 28, 2009 massacre, when at least 156 people were killed and hundreds injured in the repression of an opposition rally at a stadium in Conakry.

The victims died after Guinea’s security forces opened fire on tens of thousands of people who had gathered at the stadium to protest Camara’s intention to run for president.

According to the report of a UN-mandated international commission of inquiry, at least 109 women were also raped.

The court said that Captain Camara “completely failed in his duty to interrupt the massacre” when he was told what was going on at the stadium with the intention to repress the protest.

The hearing of the case began in 2022, when Camara was charged with multiple offenses including murder, rape, torture and kidnapping.

The court later reclassified the charges to crimes against humanity.

He was tried along with several former military commanders and officials who were convicted of the same crimes and handed varying lengthy sentences.

Presidential Security Minister Claude Pivi was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.

Four other co-accused soldiers were acquitted.

“The historic conviction of eight defendants, including former head of state Moussa Dadis Camara, for crimes against humanity finally brings justice, truth and some form of reparation to the victims of the 28 September 2009 massacre,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

Camara served as the president of Guinea's National Council for Democracy and Development, which seized power in a military coup in December 2008 after the death of long-time President Lansana Conte.

Camara and other co-accused except Pivi were in court during the reading of the verdict.

Camara fled into exile in the aftermath of the massacre but returned to the country in 2022.

He claimed to be innocent.