Guinea opposition bloodbath a crime against humanity
The massacre of opposition supporters by Guinea’s military junta in
September 2009 amounted to a crime against humanity, the deputy
prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has said.“As the deputy
prosecutor of the ICC, I end this visit with the feeling that crimes of
the order of crimes against humanity were committed,” Fatou Bensouda
told reporters at the end of a three-day mission to Conakry on
Friday.Bensouda spoke of “atrocious crimes” committed on September 28 in
Conakry’s biggest stadium, adding “men in uniform attacked civilians,
they killed and wounded.
“In full daylight they mistreated, violated and submitted women to
unprecedented sexual violence.”A United Nations commission of enquiry
had already reached a similar conclusion.It investigated the incident
when troops attacked opponents of Guinea’s military regime who had
gathered for a rally. Soldiers shot, stabbed and beat protesters,
publicly raping women.
It declared in a report published on December 21 that “it is
reasonable to conclude that the crimes perpetrated on September 28, 2009
and the following days could be qualified as crimes against
humanity.”The commission said the violence had resulted in at least “156
deaths or disappearances” and that “at least 109 women” had been victims
of rape or other sexual violence.
Despite her conclusions, Bensouda said Guinea could become an example
if it was willing to bring the main perpetrators to justice.“These few
days working in Guinea confirmed that Guinean institutions and the ICC
can work in a complementary way: either Guinean authorities can
prosecute the main people in charge themselves, or they will turn to the
court to do it,” she said.
During her time in Guinea, Bensouda visited hospitals and held
discussions with those in charge of dealing with emergency casualties,
in trauma and maternity wards and in the morgue.She also made a stop at
the military camp where junta chief Moussa Dadis Camara was shot in the
head in a failed assassination attempt on December 3.The ICC mission
came as Guinea announced a transition government to steer the country
from military to civilian rule, with elections expected in June.
-AFP
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