APA- Conakry (Guinea) – Guinea has been ruled by a military junta since September 5, 2021.
Is this the end of the tunnel for the former leaders of the Alpha Condé regime? Three former ministers of the Guinean president overthrown in a coup d’état in September 2021 have had their case heard by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
In a ruling handed down on October 16, 2023, the Abuja-based court found that the detention of Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, Alpha Condé’s last prime minister, Mohamed Diané, former defence minister, and Mohamed Oyé Guilavogui, former minister of the environment, water and forests, by the Guinean justice system was “arbitrary.” The collective of lawyers representing these former leaders of the deposed government brought the case to the Court to protest against the “violation of the rights” of their clients, who have been in prison for over a year.
The three former high-ranking officials are being prosecuted for alleged misappropriation of public funds, illicit enrichment, corruption of public officials and money laundering by the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Court for the Suppression of Economic and Financial Crimes (CRIEF), a criminal court created in December 2002 by the military, which had taken power two months earlier under the leadership of Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, to investigate economic and financial crimes committed by officials of the former regime.
After initially rejecting the request for an accelerated procedure made by the lawyers of the three former ministers on the grounds that “the Guinean state has not violated the right of citizens to equality before the law in these proceedings”, the Court ruled in favour of the collective defending the interests of former collaborators of Alpha Condé, who has been in exile in Turkey since his overthrow. It declared that “the Guinean State has violated the applicants’ right to freedom of movement. Their right not to be arbitrarily detained has also been violated and the defendants’ right to the presumption of innocence has been violated,” said the note, seen by APA.
The ECOWAS court called for the “immediate release” of Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, Mohamed Diané and Oyé Guilavogui, who have been detained since April 2022, and concluded its ruling by ordering the Guinean state to pay each of the three applicants the sum of ten thousand US dollars, or more than six million CFA francs.
When contacted by APA, the Guinean government’s legal representative declined to comment on the decision of the international court. However, the collective of defence lawyers has indicated that there will be no trial until this decision is executed by the Guinean judiciary.
ASD/odl/te/lb/abj/APA