Former Guinean Military Leader, Moussa Dadis Camara sentenced to 20 years in prison

The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with heavily armed gendarmes controlling access to the courthouse on Wednesday, where Camara and his co-defendants learned their fate. The proceedings, broadcast live on television, left no doubt about the severity of their actions.

It is exceedingly rare for former military rulers to be personally held accountable by their country's judiciary for the atrocities committed during their regimes. The trial, which began nearly three years ago, drew high-profile human rights representatives and the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to Guinea’s capital, Conakry.

However, the final judgment was delivered in the absence of defense attorneys, who are currently on strike to protest the human rights abuses perpetrated by Guinea's current military regime, including arbitrary arrests, kidnappings, and detentions at undisclosed locations. The tensions surrounding the recent trial stand in stark contrast to those from the past.

**Massacre on September 28, 2009**

On September 28, 2009, security forces violently dispersed a large pro-democracy rally at the Conakry stadium, leading to a massacre. A UN commission later determined that 156 people were killed, though the court's verdict mentioned "several hundred" deaths.

The presidential guard, identifiable by their red berets, fired into the crowd and blocked exits, while gendarmes and plainclothes men armed with machetes and knives slaughtered those attempting to escape. "Military trucks drove in suddenly, running over people and firing assault rifles," recounted opposition politician Sorel Bangoura. Former Prime Minister Sidya Touré described the scene from his hospital bed: "It was a massacre. The Red Berets (the president's elite guard) came with the intention to kill us."

The UN report concluded that these acts constituted crimes against humanity, carried out in a confined area over less than two hours. It detailed the brutalities: demonstrators were beaten with clubs and rifle butts, stabbed, shot at close range, and many women were taken away to be used as sex slaves.

**Delayed Justice**

Following the UN report in December 2009, which was presented to the UN Security Council, human rights organizations prepared to prosecute the case at the International Criminal Court, given the initial lack of judicial action in Guinea.

In 2010, Alpha Condé, the long-time opposition leader, won Guinea's first free elections but hesitated to confront the old generals directly. Dadis Camara remained unchallenged in exile in Burkina Faso until he attempted to return for the 2015 elections, prompting the investigations that led to his indictment.

The situation accelerated following another military coup in September 2021, which deposed Condé. Colonel Mamady Doumbouya's new military government showed little reluctance in dealing with the old guard. On September 28, 2022, exactly 13 years after the massacre, the trial commenced in a specially constructed courthouse.

Camara returned from exile, confident and magnanimous, only to be unexpectedly remanded in custody. Requests for release on health grounds, citing digestive issues preventing him from sitting all day, were denied.

In his December 2022 testimony, Camara denied all responsibility, claiming he was in his office during the massacre. He alleged that his aide, Diakité, prevented him from going to the stadium. "I gave no orders," he insisted.

Diakité, known as Toumba, was not only Camara’s aide but also a commander of the Red Berets. UN investigators noted that the bulk of the atrocities were committed by the Red Berets under Toumba’s command. Witnesses in court corroborated this.

Toumba, however, testified that President Camara had orchestrated the violence, quoting him as saying, "We must crush them so they will regret it." Other defendants also blamed Camara, citing his ultimate command over the armed forces.

**Verdict and Sentence**

The court found no contradiction in the varying testimonies. It concluded that the massacre and associated crimes—torture, looting, rape—constituted crimes against humanity, committed "in perfect harmony" by the main defendants, thereby affirming the prosecution's core allegations.

Ex-President Dadis Camara, his former aide Aboubacar Diakité Toumba, and former special police chief Moussa Tiegboro Camara were found collectively guilty under the principle of command responsibility. Several other defendants were convicted on similar charges, although not all faced the same sentences.

The 60-year-old Camara and Tiegboro Camara each received 20 years in prison, while Diakité Toumba was sentenced to 10 years. Former security minister Claude Pivi, convicted individually for crimes against humanity, received the harshest sentence: life imprisonment with 25 years of security detention.

The sentences fell short of the prosecution's demands for life imprisonment plus 30 years of security detention for Camara and six co-defendants. The defense had sought acquittals.

**Beyond Historical Accountability**

This trial is not merely an exercise in historical accountability. Guinea's current military rulers once again highlight the nation's fraught relationship with military governance. In November 2023, an armed commando nearly disrupted the trial by breaking Dadis Camara and several co-defendants out of prison.

Camara was swiftly recaptured, but former security minister Claude Pivi, a key commander of the Red Berets in 2009, remains at large. The breakout was orchestrated by Pivi’s son, who, like Dadis Camara’s son, is at odds with the military government.

Pivi's severe sentencing in absentia sets the stage for further power struggles between old and new military factions.

For the 2009 survivors, justice comes too late. "Many have died, some are sick and living in abject poverty," stated the human rights organization CAF-CPI before the trial began. "Women who were raped were rejected by their husbands, contracted HIV-AIDS, and their children were expelled from schools."

Nonetheless, the fact that this trial took place at all marks Guinea as a pioneer in Africa. Guinean jurists will closely study this case as they address contemporary human rights violations.