Eleven years after the September 28 massacre, the victims have still not achieved justice despite the government’s repeated promises. The United States, France and the European Union “call on the Guinean government to hold a trial as soon as possible”. The investigation has been completed since the end of 2017, and 13 defendants are to be tried by the Dixinn court in the first instance in criminal cases. But in the absence of significant progress, Guinea’s partners are considering other remedies.
Last January, the Minister of Justice promised the opening of a lawsuit for June 2020. Three months later, still nothing.
→ Also read: The September 28 massacre in Guinea: a long road to justice
The European Union has released more than four million euros, mainly in support of the victims. “We have supported throughout this time and in a consistent and permanent manner, but the most important thing that official justice must be done has not yet taken place,” said Josep Coll, Head of the EU Delegation.
The latter will continue to intervene financially and ask for a trial, the ambassador continues, “of course with the national authorities, because it is primarily they who have to carry out this work, but there are other cases. International organizations that are responsible for do justice when we see that the former is not moving forward. ”
The budget and location of the trial are set. Sékou Keïta, Communications Officer at the Ministry of Justice, assures us that all significant obstacles have been removed and that it is now up to Dixinn Prosecutor Sidi Souleymane Ndiaye to organize it. The latter says he is currently completing the final formalities set out in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The International Federation for Human Rights, civil party in the trial, said in a statement that “without concrete action for a trial to be opened by the end of 2020, the prosecution of the International Criminal Court (…) must take the necessary measures and initiate an investigation in accordance with the principle of complementarity. ”
On September 28, 2009, elements from Guinea’s armed forces during Captain Moussa Dadis’s Camara’s junta stormed a stadium in the capital, Conakry, where thousands of opponents had gathered. About 160 people were then killed in the attack, and 1,400 others injured and more than 100 women were raped.
.
