A Guinea court on Wednesday sentenced former junta leader Moussa ‘Dadis’ Camara to 20 years in prison after convicting him of crimes against humanity for the 2009 stadium massacre, where the military killed at least 157 people and raped numerous women.
The Criminal Court of Guinea found Camara and seven other top officials guilty after a lengthy trial, reclassifying charges of murder, kidnapping, and rape as “crimes against humanity.”
Four other accused were acquitted.
The trial, which began in November 2022, heard testimonies from over 100 survivors and victims’ relatives, more than a decade after the massacre.
The case had been under significant pressure from families and activists demanding justice.
Reactions to the verdict were mixed among the victims’ families. While some hailed it as long-awaited justice, others felt the sentences, particularly for Camara, were insufficient.
A 25-year-old relative of a victim, Safiatou Baldé, said, “The convictions do not match the crimes. Our sisters were raped, our brothers massacred, bodies reported missing.”
Maimounatou Tounkara, mourning his brother killed in the massacre, expressed ongoing grief, “I am still bleeding and these convictions will not heal the wounds.”
The massacre occurred during a protest against Camara’s presidential ambitions when soldiers opened fire and raped women.
Camara had led a coup the previous year. The junta at the time claimed “uncontrolled” army elements were responsible, but a Human Rights Watch report indicated that Camara’s top aides were present and did nothing to stop the violence.
International justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, Tamara Aburamadan, commented on the court’s decision, “Wednesday’s court decision sends a message loud and clear to those responsible for serious crimes in Guinea and elsewhere that justice is possible.”
Witnesses recounted how many victims were shot, crushed, or knifed to death, and women were gang-raped by uniformed men over several days.
Survivors said Camara’s presidential guard surrounded the stadium, blocking exits and preventing escape.
It took days before families were allowed to retrieve the bodies, with many never finding their loved ones.
Camara fled into exile after surviving an assassination attempt months after the massacre but returned to Guinea over a decade later.
On his first day in court, he defended his actions, saying, “If I’m here before you it’s because of my patriotism, otherwise I would not have agreed to come,” claiming he was asleep during the massacre.
Camara was briefly freed from jail by gunmen in 2023 but was recaptured hours later, with his lawyer stating he had been kidnapped.
