After 13 years, survivors and family members are hoping for justice as the trial of eleven men accused of being responsible for a mass rape and killing by Guinean security forces in 2009 gets underway on Wednesday.
Eleven individuals, including the former president and military supremo Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, have been charged and will stand trial for their roles in the Conakry massacre that resulted in the deaths of over 150 people and at least 12 rape victims.
Camara has denied involvement in the incident and placed the blame on errant soldiers, including his former aide-de-camp Lieutenant Aboubacar Toumba Diakite, who is also among those charged. He also disclaimed ownership.
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters rallied on September 28, 2009, in the stadium to put Camara under pressure not to run for president of Guinea the following year. Asmaou Diallo reported attending the demonstration. She broke the news that her kid was killed in front of her after being attacked and narrowly escaping with her life.
“The most shocking image for me that day was that of the body of my slain son. I still haven’t processed what happened,” said Diallo, who now heads an association of parents and victims of the massacre. “Knowing that this trial will take place is for all the victims the beginning of hope for deliverance,” she said.
The military government that took control in September of last year issued an order mandating that the trial begin no later than September 28, the anniversary of the massacre, following extensive investigations and numerous delays by the previous administration. Following an attempted assassination and his ouster in 2009, Camara fled to Burkina Faso and returned to Guinea over the weekend.
He was interviewed by a prosecutor and detained on Tuesday alongside two other former senior military officers, their lawyer Pepe Antoine Lamah told journalists. “It is in violation of the law that the prosecutor decided to incarcerate my clients,” Lamah said.
Alseny Sall, a representative for the Guinean Organisation for Human Rights, claims that at least 600 victims of the stadium incident have been identified. Around 50,000 protesters had assembled at the stadium that day, according to Sall.
According to several relatives of the deceased, they never received the remains of their loved ones. “Not being able to grieve for my late husband was the toughest thing for me. His body vanished and was never brought back to us. The circumstance makes me feel heavy, “admitted rice vendor Salimatou Bah.
“All we want is justice. This trial must ensure that such things never happen again in this country,” she said.