CONAKRY, Guinea
Guinean prosecutors on Wednesday demanded life sentences for former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara and six other military or government officials over a 2009 massacre, saying they were guilty of crimes against humanity.
The chief prosecutor,
Alghassimou Diallo, denied the defendants any mitigating circumstances,
pointing to their lack of regret since the landmark trial began in September
2022.
On September 28, 2009, and in
the days that followed, members of the presidential guard, soldiers, police and
militiamen brutally cracked down on an opposition rally at a stadium in the
suburbs of the capital Conakry.
At least 156 people were
killed, 109 women were raped and hundreds injured, according to a UN-mandated
commission of inquiry, in one of the darkest chapters in the West African
nation's history.
In a silent courtroom, the
defendants listened without flinching as chief prosecutor Diallo set out the
prosecution's demands.
He asked the court to
reclassify the charges against Dadis Camara as "crimes against humanity by
murder, assassination, torture, holding people against their will, rape and
superior responsibility."
Diallo requested that the
charges also be reclassified for the 11 other defendants, one of whom is being
tried in absentia and another of whom escaped prison after the trial began.
The chief prosecutor called
for Dadis Camara and six other defendants to be sentenced to life imprisonment
with a 30-year non-parole period, during which he would not be eligible for a
modified sentence.
Diallo requested sentences of
15 years' imprisonment for three other defendants, and 14 years for two others.
The trial is due to resume
Monday with the defence case, which is expected to last several days before the
judges give their verdict at a date yet to be determined.
Victims had been waiting years
for justice, before the case was brought before a court under the junta which
seized power in 2021.
Nene Aissatou Ndane Doumbouya,
a retired nurse who was raped at the stadium and left for dead, expressed her
joy after the closing arguments.
When she heard the
prosecutor's requests, "the rest didn't interest me anymore, I was so
relieved, so drunk with happiness," she said.
On Wednesday, three
representatives from the public prosecutor's office recounted before the court
the sheer brutality of the acts committed in September 2009.
One of the representatives,
Elhadj Sidiki Camara, burst into tears as he recalled how a mother of a
three-week-old baby was abducted from the stadium and held captive for a month
by a soldier who used her as his sex slave.
"I remember this doctor
who came with a photo of his mother cut up among other bodies," said
prosecutor Diallo.
But, he said, "I have not
felt the slightest remorse on the faces of these defendants," adding that
it had been a "surprise throughout these 18 months."
"Mitigating circumstances
are granted to those who regretted the acts they committed. Them? You must not
even think about that, Mr President," he added.
During the trial, the
defendants blamed each other for the events that took place in September 2009.
Dadis Camara always argued
that he had been overtaken by his subordinates and denied any responsibility.
The prosecution disagreed.
"He did nothing to ensure
that the meeting was not repressed. On the contrary, he planned it," said
Elhadj Sidiki Camara.
He added that Dadis Camara
later took no action against his men.
Convictions in line with the
prosecution's requests would "put the sword of Damocles on the heads of
every member of the nation to say that the path taken by these defendants here
today is a path prohibited by law," said prosecutor Diallo.
"We couldn't have wished
any better for our persecutors, they got what they deserved," one victim,
Aminata Camara, a retired teacher, told an AFP correspondent who was himself a
victim of the events.
"From this evening, I'm
going to pray that the judge will follow the prosecutor's request
exactly," she added.
No comments:
Post a Comment