2023-04-17 19:09:54
Doctor Mohamed Diané had another appointment with the CRIEF on April 17. The former all-powerful Minister of Defense and Presidential Affairs is brought there for “embezzlement of public funds, corruption of public officials, illicit enrichment and money laundering”. The defendant ultimately did not appear for the hearing.
At the March 27 hearing, Mohamed Diané’s lawyers had decided to throw in the towel. They did not digest the rejection by judge Francis Kova Zoumanigui of the exceptions they raised, as to the competence or not of the CRIEF to judge their client. These lawyers believe that Order 019 of March 2, 2023, which refers their client to the CRIEF Trial Chamber, has been appealed. Even if the Supreme Court has trouble deciding. Mohamed Diané was therefore to appear on April 17, before the CRIEF for Judge Francis Kova Zoumanigui to rule on the assignment of other lawyers for the defense of the defendant, but also for him to rule on the request for seizure. property of Mohamed Diané made by the lawyers of the Legal Agent of the State.
But at the opening of the hearing, the defendant was absent. It was the representative of the public ministry, Joséphine Loly Tinquiano who made the announcement. On the reasons for his absence, Mrs. Tinquiano declares that he was the victim of a fall: “He tripped in the toilets of the central house of Conakry, he came out of it with an injury to the level of the forehead”. She asked for a dismissal until the defendant recovered.
The judge granted the request and sent the case back to May 8. Not sure that the former minister agrees to give his version. When his lawyers decided to throw in the towel, he decided to shut himself up in silence. Mohamed Diané is accused by the authorities of the transition of having embezzled, under the reign of Alpha Condé, several billion Guinean francs. Accusations that the accused rejects as a whole.
Kassory, still sick
Ibrahima Kassory Fofana was also to be tried before the CRIEF on April 17, on practically the same charges as Doctor Mohamed Diané. The former Prime Minister could not make the trip. In addition to the fact that his lawyers still do not want a trial before the CRIEF before the Supreme Court rules on the release orders issued in favor of their client, the defendant remains bedridden in a health facility in the square. . There too, the public prosecutor asked for a referral: “The agents went to check, they found that the defendant was on a drip”. The case is adjourned to May 15.
Yacine Diallo
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