Guinea court sentences former junta leader to 20 years in prison over 2009 stadium massacre

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — A Guinea court on Wednesday sentenced former junta leader Moussa “Dadis” Camara to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of crimes against humanity in the 2009 stadium massacre by the military that killed at least 157 people and left dozens of women raped.

Guinea’s Criminal Court convicted Camara and seven other high-ranking officials after a prolonged trial on charges of murder, kidnapping and rape that were reclassified as “crimes against humanity” on Wednesday. Four other accused were acquitted.

More than 100 survivors and victims’ relatives testified in the trial that started in November 2022, more than a decade after the massacre and under pressure from families and activists demanding justice.

Some of the victims’ relatives lauded the verdict as justice at last while others said the penalty for Camara in particular was not enough.

“The convictions do not match the crimes. Our sisters were raped, our brothers massacred, bodies reported missing,” said Safiatou Baldé, 25, a relative of one of the victims.

Maimounatou Tounkara said a part of him died with his brother who was killed in the massacre. “I am still bleeding and these convictions will not heal the wounds,” he said.

The demonstrators at the stadium in Sept. 2009 were protesting Camara’s plans to run for president when soldiers opened fire on them and raped dozens of women. The then-military leader had staged a coup the previous year.

The junta at the time said “uncontrolled” elements of the army carried out the rapes and killings. But Camara’s top aides were at the stadium and did nothing to stop the massacre, a Human Rights Watch report said.

Wednesday’s court decision “sends a message loud and clear to those responsible for serious crimes in Guinea and elsewhere that justice is possible,” said Tamara Aburamadan, international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

Many of the victims in the stadium massacre were shot, crushed or knifed to death while some of the women were dragged out from hiding and gang-raped by uniformed men over several days, witnesses said.

Many could not flee the gunfire after Camara’s presidential guard surrounded the stadium and blocked the exits, survivors said.

It took several days before the families of the victims were allowed to come and collect the bodies, they said during the trial. Many, though, never found the bodies of their relatives.

Camara fled into exile after he survived an assassination attempt several months after the massacre but returned to Guinea more than a decade later.

“If I’m here before you it’s because of my patriotism, otherwise I would not have agreed to come,” he said on his first day in court to face trial, adding that he was asleep as the massacre unfolded.

While in jail late last year, Camara was released by gunmen who stormed the country’s main prison but was back in custody hours later as his lawyer said he had been kidnapped.

—-

Associated Press journalist Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria contributed.

____

Follow AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa