Lawyers are protesting against executive interference in ongoing court cases.
The collective of Guinean lawyers has decided to call for a day without hearings. This decision was taken on 11 May following the release of the leaders of the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), Oumar Sylla alias Foniké Mengué, Ibrahima Diallo and Mamadou Billo BAH.
According to the striking lawyers, these activists were released by the Minister of Justice after nine months of pre-trial detention, without any judicial process being followed. However, this measure is the result of several days of mediation by the clergy to bring the government and the Forces vives de Guinée together.
The mood of the lawyers made it temporarily impossible to resume the trial on 28 September after the court took note of the absence of the lawyers. At the Conakry Court of Appeal, the day’s hearings were postponed.
At the Court for the Suppression of Economic and Financial Offences, hearings could also be paralysed by the lawyers’ strike. At 10:30 a.m. the hearings, which usually start a little earlier, had not yet begun.
Last Thursday, the government spokesman had announced that Foniké Mengué, Ibrahima Diallo and Billo Bah would be released.
“Their release does not end the judicial process. They (Foniké Mengué, Ibrahima Diallo and Billo Bah) have just been placed at the disposal of the clergy to respond to a complaint from these wise men whom we have invited to intercede. They are regaining their freedom pending the opening of their trial, which should take place next week,” said Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy.
In Guinea, the government and the Forces Vives are still unable to agree on how to manage the transition. Despite the appeasement of the country’s religious leaders, the Forces Vives are still planning demonstrations. The first day of demonstrations was bloody, with 7 dead and several injured, some seriously, according to the FVG.
ASD/ac/lb/abj/APA