Guinean magistrates indict ex-junta chief for massacre

  • 09/07/2015
by Moussa Dadis Camara (Reuters)
by Moussa Dadis Camara (Reuters)

Guinean magistrates have indicted the former head of the ousted junta in Burkina Faso over the 2009 Conakry stadium massacre in which at least 157 protesters were killed, his lawyer said.

Security forces opened fire and mowed down demonstrators after tens of thousands gathered at the capital's main stadium on September 28, 2009 to protest against the military regime led by Moussa Dadis Camara.

Women were raped, hundreds of people were wounded and dozens are still missing.

"He has been indicted by a pool of magistrates visiting from Conakry to question him about his involvement in the events of September 28 2009," Camara's advocate Jean-Baptiste Jocamey Haba told AFP by phone from Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, the ousted dictator's home-in-exile since 2010.

Camara seized power in 2008 when longtime strongman Lansana Conte died. He ruled for close to a year before being forced to flee the country by an assassination attempt.

Hundreds of victims have given evidence since Guinea opened its inquiry into the massacre in 2010, according to local and global rights organisations.

A spokesman for Camara's political party said he would for the first time give evidence to the hearings as "the accused and not simply as a witness".

Guinean judicial sources told AFP last month 13 other members of the junta were facing charges over the massacre, on top of eight people already indicted.

The list of defendants and their charges has not been made public but they are said to include a policeman, the then housing minister and a civilian adviser to the junta.

AFP