The trial for the 2009 massacre in Guinea resumed on Monday, following a jailbreak nine days ago, where armed commandos extracted former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara and three others from prison, resulting in nine fatalities.
On the same day, three of the accused, including Dadis Camara, were apprehended. However, Colonel Claude Pivi remains at large.
They face charges related to a massacre that occurred at a political rally in 2009 during Dadis Camara’s presidency, marking one of the darkest chapters in the history of the West African nation.
The prison raid on November 4 raised concerns that the trial, initiated in 2022 after more than a decade-long wait for victims, might face interruptions.
However, on Monday, it resumed after a three-week suspension for other reasons.
Dadis Camara and the two other men were present in court.
Pepe Antoine Lamah, one of Dadis Camara’s lawyers, stated that none of them have been authorized to contact him since the jailbreak.
He said that constituted a “violation of the rights of the defence”.
In the absence of his client, Colonel Claude Pivi, lawyer Fode Kaba Cherif requested a postponement of the trial.
Prosecutor Alghassimou Diallo opposed the request.
The hearing was adjourned until Monday afternoon.
Attorneys for the defendants removed from prison all asserted that their clients were taken by force and did not escape voluntarily.
Dadis Camara and 10 other former officials are facing trial for a range of charges, including murders, acts of torture, rapes, and kidnappings committed by security forces on September 28, 2009, and in the subsequent days.
The massacre initiated in a stadium in the suburbs of the capital, Conakry, where tens of thousands of opposition supporters had assembled for a rally.
A UN-mandated commission of inquiry reported that at least 156 people were killed, hundreds injured, and a minimum of 109 women were subjected to rape during the incident.
Following the commando operation on November 4, Guinea’s ruling junta conducted a purge within the security and prison services, resulting in the dismissal of around 60 officers, soldiers, and agents.
A source at the justice ministry, speaking anonymously to AFP, revealed that approximately 60 arrests had been carried out.
