Guinea court finds former dictator guilty in stadium massacre trial

A court in Guinea has found the former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara and seven other military commanders guilty of crimes against humanity in a long-awaited verdict relating to a notorious massacre and mass rape that took place in 2009.

In a ruling in the capital, Conakry, the initial charges, including murder, rape and kidnapping, were recategorised as crimes against humanity. Afterward, Camara and his former police chief Moussa Tiegboro Camara were given 20-year prison sentences for ordering a crackdown on thousands of unarmed protesters, who were aggrieved that he had decided to stand in the presidential election the following year.

At least 150 people were killed after several hundred soldiers opened fire. Dozens of women were raped in the chaos that followed after the gendarmerie entered the Stade du 28 Septembre, named after the 1958 referendum when the former French colony voted for independence. Eleven people, including Dadis Camara, were charged for their roles in the massacre.

“This trial is symbolic, marking without a doubt a new era of breaking with a system of impunity,” said Halimatou Camara (no relation to the former dictator), a lawyer representing one of the survivors.

Aboubacar “Toumba” Diakité, who, as head of Camara’s presidential guard, admitted in December 2009 that he shot his former boss at point-blank range during a row over who should take the blame for the massacre, received a 10-year sentence.

Last November, Camara escaped from Conakry’s central prison during an apparent jailbreak by masked gunmen. He was later returned to the prison by security officials. Claude Pivi, another defendant who fled, is still at large. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The remaining four defendants were found not guilty.

Wednesday’s trial, which went on despite impending protests and a lawyers’ strike, was described as a “long overdue moment” by Tamara Aburamadan, an international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

“Victims have been waiting for it for so long … this is a moment that is not only important for the victims of this particular massacre, but for all Guineans,” she said.

The fight for justice has not been without challenges. The trial has been adjourned multiple times, while the matter of sufficient compensation and medical assistance for the survivors is also yet to be decided.

Guinea’s current military administration, led by Mamady Doumbouya, who took power after a 2021 coup, has been lauded locally for pushing for the trial.

But in the run-up to the verdict, civil society groups were requesting the release of two activists, Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah, detained since 9 July, and campaigning against the censorship of several media outlets. A protest is due to take place on Wednesday.

On 16 July, lawyers in the country embarked on a two-week strike to protest against sporadic arrests of the pair and other citizens, defying a nationwide ban on demonstrations.

On the eve of the trial, the junta submitted a draft to amend the 2020 constitution to parliament. If ratified in a referendum, it will reduce presidential term limits from six years to five and not bar current members of the ruling military council from contesting the next election. Dates for the referendum and election are yet to be announced.

Human rights activists said the trial is an important moment in a country with a long history of dictators, and could spur further change.

Aburamadan said: “The verdict sends a message loud and clear to those responsible for serious crimes in Guinea and elsewhere that justice is possible, and the trial should yield lessons to prompt national justice efforts globally.”