Last week marked the fifteenth anniversary of the 2009 security forces attack on peaceful demonstrators at a stadium in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, in which more than 150 people were killed and scores of women were raped. For years, victims and survivors have marked the Sept. 28 anniversary with calls for justice.
Finally, on July 31, of this year a Guinean court issued a verdict in a landmark trial for this brutal massacre, convicting Guinea’s former self-declared president Moussa Dadis Camara, and seven others, including high level officials of the security forces, of crimes against humanity with sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison. Four people were acquitted, including the health minister at the time of the attack. The judges also ruled on reparations claims for victims.
The national trial which began in September 2022 – 13 years after the massacre – is a rare example of domestic accountability involving high-ranking military and governmental officials, and should inspire other justice efforts, both in Guinea and elsewhere. It is the first time crimes against humanity have been prosecuted in Guinea.
In delivering the verdict in a trial that had captured the nation’s attention, the judges read out some of the names of the victims who participated as civil parties in the trial. It was a moment to honor their names while thousands of Guineans followed the livestreaming of the verdict online.
The verdict is not yet final; all parties in the trial have lodged appeals that will be taken up as judges return from the annual judicial recess this month, according to lawyers involved in the trial. In addition, it remains to be seen how reparations for the different groups of victims, including those who have suffered physical and psychological trauma, will be delivered. More time will be needed to study in full how this trial can contribute to future accountability efforts in Guinea and beyond. But as we mark the anniversary, it is important to consider what prospects this fully domestic trial holds for other justice efforts, particularly in terms of victim security and participation, the fair trial rights of the accused, and the prospect of reparations.
National Authorities’ Core Responsibility for Justice
Trials of serious international crimes, especially involving high-ranking officials, face challenges regardless of whether they are held at the international or national level. When these kinds of crimes are prosecuted for the first time before a national court, those challenges can multiply.
The case faced stop-and-start progress in the investigation phase, at one point it took more than a year for the judicial panel to receive basic supplies, equipment, and transportation for the judges to do their work. Eventually, the trial gained the support of the current authorities in Guinea. However, since coming to power in 2021, the current military government has undermined respect for rights in many other areas and carried out a sustained crackdown on the opposition, dissenters, and the media, leaving hundreds dead and hundreds more injured at the hands of State security forces, according to a report by Amnesty International
Other important actors made the trial possible. Representatives of victims’ associations, as well as local and international human rights organizations were central to progress not only by acting as civil parties, but also through consistently advocating for greater government support for holding the perpetrators to account and revealing the truth about the attack.
The role of Guinea’s international partners, including the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor, appears to have also been a major factor in galvanizing progress over time.
Continued international support and engagement with the Guinean authorities on the critical importance of further justice efforts will also be essential.
Turning Challenges into Opportunities
The Guinean government funded the trial despite budgetary challenges. The European Union and the United States pledged to offer financial support, but in the end the EU, along with the United Kingdom, only provided financial resources to support civil parties. Some international partners, such as the U.S. government, were limited in their ability to provide support since the current Guinean military government come to power through a coup.
Security was another key difficulty, given the sensitive nature of the charges and the high profiles of the accused. The Guinean government deployed hundreds of security guards around the trial premises. In November 2023, a security breach incident led to the departure of four of the high-level accused from the detention facility with armed forces. Although three returned to custody on the same day, Claude Pivi, minister for presidential security in 2009 under Dadis Camara, remained at large for several months and was ultimately convicted in absentia. Pivi was arrested by the Liberian police last month and was transferred to Conakry to serve his sentence of life in prison, pending any appeals.
Victims and survivors who had publicly taken the stand in the trial, along with lawyers involved in the proceedings, raised concerns for their safety while the accused were at liberty.
A Guinean law on the protection of victims and witnesses was adopted right before the start of the trial. But although Guinean human rights organizations have called for a decree to implement the law, which would detail specific measures to be taken, the law has yet to be put into effect. Security concerns remain for victims and witnesses who revealed their identity and testified in the trial, as they fear retaliation by the relatives of the convicted men.
Protecting witnesses and victims should remain a priority for the Guinean government. Ensuring the efficacy and implementation of the protection law would also encourage victims of other human rights violations to step forward and participate in future justice efforts.
The trial also highlighted challenges in relation to the application of international law by domestic justice systems. In its verdict, the court decided to reclassify the charges from ordinary crimes to crimes against humanity, which are crimes knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a specific civilian population, based on a request by the prosecution submitted as the trial was wrapping up. Defense counsel strongly contested both the prosecution’s request and the court’s decision. The defendants argued that issuing a reclassification decision at the time of the verdict would violate their fair trial rights, including retroactive application of the law since crimes against humanity were incorporated into Guinea’s law after the acts in question were alleged to have been committed, and leave them without the opportunity to defend against the reclassified charges.
It remains to be seen how the Guinean judiciary will address the reclassification decision on appeal. A potential appeal ruling on the fair trial arguments could establish a legal precedent that would be helpful for similar questions on reclassification of charges in future justice efforts in the country.
Completing the Circle of Justice
While a final verdict pending any appeal is crucial, victims, their families, and affected communities have also been waiting for reparations. They have a right to reparations — benefits to redress the harm they suffered and continue to suffer due to the brutal events – under international and Guinean law. Without fulfilling this right, justice remains incomplete.
Although the court approved some reparations claims, awarding groups of around 700 victims up to 1.5 billion Guinean francs (approximately $172,500 in U.S. dollars), the delivery of those reparations has not been ensured. In principle, the reparations were ordered against the defendants. Following any potential appeal decisions, it remains an open question whether the convicted men have enough funds to pay the reparations, and if not, whether the Guinean government will be able to deliver those reparations itself.
The process is not yet over. Following the massacre, security forces arranged a cover-up of the crimes and buried scores of bodies in mass graves. These bodies have not been exhumed. The families of victims reported missing and disappeared on Sept. 28, 2009, are still waiting to know what happened to their loved ones. Additional individuals may be charged for alleged crimes during the massacre.
There is also a need to ensure that the trial proceedings are effectively archived to ensure they are accessible, including to provide lessons for other cases in the future, whether in Guinea or beyond.
But already the 2009 stadium trial verdict is clearly a historic moment in Guinea, sending a message that justice can reach even those in senior positions. Yet, given the clear accountability needs in the country, it is important to ensure that this message is translated into reality for all victims. The Guinean authorities have the opportunity to turn this trial into the first of many more justice efforts to come.