During his tenure, an opposition protest was brutally suppressed and over 150 people were killed.
Guinean court sentences ex-military leader Moussa Dadis Kamara to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity released.
Guinea’s criminal court has ended a two-year trial to suppress an opposition rally at a stadium near the country’s capital, Conakry. At least 156 people were killed and 109 women were raped during the brutal suppression of the assembly.
The court announced that charges of murder, rape, torture and kidnapping will be classified as crimes against humanity before Kamara and seven other military commanders are sentenced. The four defendants were acquitted.
During the trial, hundreds of survivors and relatives of the victims of the massacre by members of the presidential guard of the House of Representatives in 2009 testified. The court decided to pay compensation to the victims from 23 thousand to 174 thousand US dollars.
While some relatives of the victims say the sentence is fair, others say it is not enough punishment for Kamara, who escaped from prison in November 2023 but was captured shortly after.
“The punishment does not fit the crime. Our sisters were raped, our brothers were killed, their bodies disappeared,” said 25-year-old Safiatu Balde, a relative of one of the victims.
Defense attorneys argue that reclassifying charges as crimes against humanity on sentencing day deprives the accused of the opportunity to defend themselves and violates their rights to a fair trial. Defendants and prosecutors can appeal against the verdict within 15 days.
Kamara’s rise to power
On December 22, 2008, the President of Guinea, Lansana Conte, died unexpectedly. At 7:00 a.m. the next day, Moussa Dadis Kamara announced on television that the National Council for Democracy and Development had been created and that the government would be dissolved. He said the coup was caused by poverty and corruption in the country.
On December 24, the election of Kamara as president is announced on the radio, announcing that free presidential elections will be held in the country by December 2010.
Opposition forces stand against Kamara’s authoritarian government. In September 2009, the opposition started protest actions, which were eventually suppressed. The army blocked the exits from the stadium and opened fire on the protesters. Later, the army rolls into the shops of the capital and starts shooting citizens in the streets who are in a mood of dissatisfaction with the government.
