UN human rights chief calls on Guinea to ‘continue on path’ to end impunity
Aug. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The US government on Thursday praised the Guinean justice system for concluding the trial of the 2009 massacre, which left at least 156 people dead inside a stadium in the capital, Conakry.
“The verdict, which includes the conviction of former military chief Musa Dadis Camara and the reparations ordered by the court, offers a sense of justice for victims and survivors,” reads a statement from the State Department, which has “commended the victims and witnesses who bravely came forward to tell their stories.”
US diplomatic spokesman Matthew Miller also took the opportunity to “commend Guinea’s human rights organisations for their persistence in defending accountability, which has led to this trial and this sentence.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has called on the Guinean authorities to “continue the path” they have begun “to end impunity and ensure that all those responsible” are brought to justice. “After almost 15 years, victims, survivors and their families have the right to full justice and transparency,” he said.
In this regard, she urged the country’s judicial institutions to continue to be strengthened and their independence guaranteed as a key to avoiding the repetition of human rights violations. She also recalled that victims have the right to psychosocial and financial support, while pointing out that it is essential for the Government to determine the whereabouts of all missing persons.
A court has sentenced Dadis Camara to 20 years in prison. His military ‘right-hand man’, Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Chérif Diakité, alias ‘Toumba’, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Blaise Goumou has been sentenced to 15 years and Mamadou Aliou Keïta will spend 11 years behind bars.
The prosecution had requested a life sentence for Dadis Camara, accused of having orchestrated the massacre inside the stadium, where hundreds of people had asked him not to take part in the elections of 11 October in which he was competing against the former president of Guinea Alpha Condé. The Guinean authorities indicted the former military leader in July 2015.
A United Nations commission of inquiry determined that at least 156 people were killed and 109 women and girls raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence during the events. Dadis Camara, however, has always maintained that it was all part of a plot orchestrated by political rivals.
Camara presided over the country for almost a year after staging a coup in 2008 shortly after the death of Lansana Conté (1984-2008), although his reputation was damaged by the aforementioned massacre of opponents at the 28th of September Stadium. These events are considered one of the worst acts of repression in West Africa.
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