On Monday, Moussa Dadis Camara’s former aide-de-camp testified in court that Camara had planned and authorised the 2009 stadium massacre that resulted in the deaths of more than 150 people.
“Everything that happened at the stadium was prepared by President Dadis. It was the children of Kaleah (a military training camp) who descended on the stadium,” said Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, popularly called “Toumba.”
The trial began on September 28 and Camara has not yet given a witness statement. He has previously claimed that the tragedy was the fault of rogue soldiers, notably Diakite, and denied any involvement.
The massacre that occurred on September 28, 2009 in Conakry, when tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered to put pressure on Camara not to run for president of Guinea the following year, is being tried by 11 men, including Diakite and Camara.
As security forces fired tear gas and charged the stadium, numerous people were shot, stabbed, assaulted, or crushed in a stampede. According to prosecutors, security agents sexually assaulted at least 12 women.
Later that year, in an attempt at murder, Diakite shot Camara in the head and claimed he did it because Camara had blamed him for the murders, a claim he repeated on Monday. Diakite detailed the alleged planning of the slaughter in his testimony.
He claimed that 250–300 fresh military recruits, some of whom were armed with machetes and knives, had been transported to Conakry by individuals close to Camara in order to infiltrate the protest.
The demonstrators were to be “crushed,” according to Diakite, who claimed he tried to persuade Camara to let the police and gendarmes handle the situation as it developed. However, Camara snapped and ordered his men to do just that.
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.