An AFP correspondent said that the trial against former Guinean leader Moussa Dadis Camara and other former authorities for the stadium massacre on September 28, 2009, began on Wednesday in the nation’s capital, Conakry.
The top galleries of the specially designed courtroom were filled with dozens of victims who had waited 13 years for the proceedings.
They observed as Camara and 10 other former military and government officials on trial approached the courtroom while media and officials milled about below them.
National television carried a live feed of the proceedings.
“It’s like a dream, even if we’ve always believed it would happen,” Asmaou Diallo, the head of a victims’ association, told AFP.
The 58-year-old Camara and the other defendants are accused of a wide range of crimes, including murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, and looting. Camara is also accused of having “personal criminal responsibility and command responsibility” for the crimes.
According to a UN-mandated investigation, on September 28, 2009, and in the days that followed, security forces loyal to the then-junta leader killed 156 people and sexually assaulted at least 109 women who had assembled for a political demonstration in a Conakry stadium.
The real figures are likely higher.
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters had been peacefully protesting against Camara, who had taken control of the country in a coup in December 2008 and had since been sworn in as president.
According to numerous testimonies, security personnel entered the stadium, blocked off the exits, and then opened fire indiscriminately on the previously joyous audience.
Killers used knives, machetes, and bayonets to attack unarmed civilians, leaving a trail of bloody bodies in the stands, hallways, and grass.
They killed numerous women after sexually assaulting them. In the frenzy, several people were trampled to death.
International investigators discovered the savagery against secluded women and male inmates who were tortured continued for several days, which could qualify as crimes against humanity.
Karim Khan, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), urged Guinean authorities on Wednesday to uphold international law, particularly the presumption of innocence and witness protection.
He stated at Conakry that “justice… is not a cosmetic exercise.” “I’ll be keeping a careful eye on this trial.”
Governmental will
UN special representative Pramila Patten praised the junta for its “show of political resolve” in pursuing the trial.
Victims and family members have been waiting for the trial for more than a decade despite repeated assurances made under the administration of former president Alpha Conde.
The commission claimed that the security forces’ impunity and delays by those in authority had long diminished the likelihood of a trial.
Then, in July, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the leader of the current military junta, who took control in a coup in 2021 after 11 years of civilian governance, ordered that the trial be held before the next anniversary date.
Camara had been living in exile in Burkina Faso, but on Saturday, he came back to Conakry to face trial. His relatives claim that he wants to “clean his name.”
On Tuesday, the accused were sent in jail and informed that their detention will last throughout the course of the trial.
One survivor, who begged to remain unidentified, told AFP, “I don’t even dare believe that my rapists are still alive.”
However, it is a comfort that the trial is proceeding.
