Official charged for Guinea massacre

GlobalPost

NAIROBI, Kenya — It has taken nearly 29 months for any senior figures to be held accountable. But now, a government minister has been charged with his role in an attack on a stadium full of unarmed civilian protesters by a brigade of soldiers that left more than 150 people dead and more than 100 women raped.

Col. Moussa Tiegboro Camara, a secretary of state as well as an army officer, was charged by a court in Conakry but details of the allegations have not been revealed. Camara was seen in the stadium on the day of the massacre, ordering troops to act against civilians protesting at the then military junta which had seized power.

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Human Rights Watch and others have comprehensively documented the massacre carried out on Sept. 28, 2009, by Guinea's elite presidential Guard, suspected to have been both planned and ordered. The soldiers shot indiscriminately into the crowd of tens of thousands, gang raped and brutally sexually assaulted women, some women were raped then executed while others were kidnapped and subjected to rape and sexual assault for days afterwards.

Corinne Dufka, HRW's senior West Africa researcher, welcomed the news:

"The courageous work of the judges and the charges against Colonel Moussa Tiégboro Camara are an encouraging and meaningful step forward for justice in Guinea. Ensuring justice for the 2009 victims and their families would help break the cycle of violence, fear, and impunity that has blighted the lives and hopes of so many Guineans for so many years.”

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