APA- Conakry (Guinea) After more than two months, the trial of 28 September 2009 resumed on Monday 10 July at the criminal court of Dixinn.
By Aboubacar Siddy Diallo
As soon as the trial resumed on Monday 10 July, it was marked by a strong decision by one of the defence lawyers. It was the lawyer of Captain Marcel Guilavogui, one of the eleven accused in the massacre that left 150 people dead and about a hundred women raped in a stadium in Conakry.
In a note, the lawyer David Béavogui has decided to stop defending his client.
In his letter, the lawyer said he is no longer in a position to defend the captain after Béavogui decided to change his strategy nine months into the trial.
“It is also out of trust and loyalty that I have followed your line of defence, which you yourself have adopted since the preliminary investigation, even though you did not have a lawyer,” said David Béavogui.
In recent days, APA has received reports that Captain Marcel Guilavogui has decided to retract his statement. Presented by the plaintiffs as one of the main actors in the events of 28 September, the accused intends to break his silence and the amnesia of the first days. As the first defendant to appear, he claimed not to remember anything.
“We have developed this line together, against all odds, from 28 September 2022, the date of the opening of the trial, to the present day, and we have confidently defended it. Fourteen (14) years after you were questioned by the judicial police, you decide to change your version for reasons I do not know. The essence of the relationship between lawyer and client is trust, and our trust has just been undermined by your attitude,” the lawyer complained.
Unable to defend one thing and its opposite, Mr Béavogui David told his client: “I no longer have the physical and moral strength to stand by your side in this trial.”
While the civil party waits to hear Marcel Guilavogui’s new version, which is expected to incriminate Dadis Camara, the latter’s lawyers have announced a complaint against the former junta leader’s nephew for “attempted blackmail”.
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