A Guinean court sentenced a former defense minister under ex-President Alpha Conde to five years in prison on Wednesday for embezzlement of public funds, illicit enrichment, money laundering, and bribery of public officials.
Mohamed Diane, a key figure in the Conde administration from 2015 until the regime’s fall in a 2021 coup, has been in custody since 2022. The court also ordered him to pay 505 billion Guinean Francs (approximately €55 million) in damages to the Guinean state, according to the judgment issued by the Court for the Repression of Economic and Financial Offenses (CRIEF).
In addition, the court ordered the confiscation of all of Diane’s real estate in Kankan and Conakry for the benefit of the Guinean state, as well as the seizure of his bank accounts, both in local and foreign currencies.
Detained at Conakry Central Prison since May 2022, he has consistently refused to cooperate with CRIEF’s investigations.
He is among several former officials, opposition leaders, and civil society figures arrested or investigated under Guinea’s military junta. The ruling authorities have made the fight against endemic corruption one of their flagship initiatives.
In November 2022, the junta ordered prosecutions against former President Alpha Conde and over 180 senior officials and ex-ministers for alleged corruption. Earlier, in May 2022, Conde faced legal action over alleged crimes including murder, torture, abduction, and rape, in a country where political demonstrations are often met with harsh repression.
Junta head, General Mamadi Doumbouya, has pledged there will be no “witch hunts.” However, the opposition accuses the regime of curbing freedoms and using the judiciary as a political tool.
AFP/te/lb/as/APA