Guinean authorities on Wednesday freed three Guinean civil society leaders who spent months in prison “without condition” after seven people were reported killed during protests calling for their release.
The clashes between opposition supporters and the security officers of the military government left more than 32 people with gunshot wounds in the Guinean capital Conakry. About 56 persons were arrested.
The three civil society leaders from the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) Ibrahima Diallo, Mamadou Billo Bah and Oumar Sylla, also known as Fonike Mangue were released at 10:30 pm, the FNDC communications manager Abdoulaye Oumou Sow told newsmen.
“They are completely free”, Sow added.
One of the lawyers representing the trio, Me Salifou Beavogui, said in a statement that the defence had “just learned of the release of our clients without procedure, without condition”.
Beavogui went on to criticise authorities’ handling of the case, and the fact that for several months “citizens were deprived of their liberty without trial”.
Mangue and Diallo had been detained since July 2022, while Bah had been held since January 2023. The court’s reasons for releasing them were not immediately known.
Earlier on Wednesday, fast-moving groups of young protesters in several districts of the capital had hurled stones at police, who responded with tear gas.