Former Guinean President Captain Moussa Dadis Camara returned to his country early Sunday, September 25, and was arrested and jailed on Tuesday evening, September 27. This arrest on the eve of the trial of the 2009 massacre at the stadium of Conakry where he was to appear, is a big surprise for his entourage who reacted immediately. According to one of the defense lawyers, no detention can be done in such conditions.
Moussa Dadis Camara is no longer free to move. The captain was arrested and imprisoned with several other co-defendants on the evening of Tuesday, September 27, as the trial of the 2009 Conakry stadium massacre opens on Wednesday, September 28. They will therefore be a dozen men to appear in court for their actions 13 years ago. Among them, former ministers and senior army officers.
The defense denounces the arrest procedure
Mr. Salifou Béavogui, lawyer of Claude Pivi, alias “Coplan”, former minister in charge of the president’s security, did not hesitate before denouncing the mode of arrest of the defendants.
“On the eve of a trial, you can’t call the defendants, tell them, ‘well look, we’re sending you to jail.’ There is no type of detention, but unfortunately, we were misunderstood. They assumed, finally, they took our clients to jail for the opening of the trial,” he explains.
It must be said that Claude Pivi, alias “Coplan”, former minister in charge of the president’s security, had authority over the presidential guard. He did not go to the stadium, but various testimonies implicate him and his men in misdeeds in the surrounding neighborhoods.
This trial, a hope for the victims’ families
The wait has been long for the families of the victims who only want justice to be done. Several associations had also made representations to the authorities of the previous government without follow-up.
“All the time, we were asking Alpha Conde to agree to put them on leave, until the moment when justice will give its verdict. Today is the time. They are in the central house, I think we are beginning to get the truth, let’s hope that it will go well and that the whole Guinea will learn the truth”, explains Asmaou Diallo, president of the main association of relatives of the victims.
Moussa Dadis Camara and several other personalities are accused of having ordered acts of assassination, sexual violence, looting, arrests and torture on Wednesday, September 28, 2009.
