Guinea: Ex-military leader Camara jailed over stadium massacre

Guinea‘s former junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara has been found guilty of crimes against humanity in a 2009 stadium massacre.

He has been subsequently jailed for 20 years, despite denying the charges and pleading not guilty.

A court in Guinea on Wednesday found him and seven other accused military commanders guilty of crimes against humanity.

“This is a widespread and systematic attack by armed men against a civilian population,” the judge said while reading the verdict.

Families of those who were killed are to receive 2 billion Guinean francs ($233,890) for each victim while rape and torture victims will receive 1 billion Guinean francs each.

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Camara, 60, seized power in a coup after long-time President Lansana Conté died in 2008. He subsequently fled the country after surviving an assassination attempt.

That was shortly more than 150 people were killed during a pro-democracy rally on Sept. 28, 2009.

Tens of thousands of people had gathered at a stadium in Conakry to demand that Camara doesn’t stand in a presidential election the following year.

Many were shot, stabbed, beaten or crushed in a stampede as security forces fired teargas and charged the stadium.

Prosecutors said during the trial that at least a dozen women were raped by security forces.

Camara returned from exile in Burkina Faso in September 2022 to face trial.

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Source: Africafeeds.com