2024-04-26 13:55:05
To attract the attention of the Guinean State, the NGO Amnesty Guinea launched this Wednesday, April 24, 2024, the 2023/2024 annual report on the human rights situation in Guinea. In this summary made in front of journalists at the press house in Conakry we find the disruptions linked to social networks, the targeting of several radios, televisions and websites, the killings during the demonstrations, the death of around twenty people during the explosion of the oil depot in Kaloum.
Further, the NGO mentioned the arrest and indictment of several journalists, the conviction of several women in Kankan for having demanded the return of the former president of Alpha Condé to power and the consequences on economic rights and social of the
local population and the effects on climate change. Added to this are several violations reported in the report. Below you will find the entire report.
Republic of Guinea
Access to major social networks was disrupted, while radio, television and news sites were targeted. With the exception of those organized in favor of the transitional authorities, all demonstrations were banned again this year. Security forces killed protesters and arbitrarily arrested journalists. Four people were found guilty in the M’Mah Sylla case. The authorities have taken legal action in the area of marine pollution.
CONTEXT
The trial of former head of state Moussa Dadis Camara and several former senior security officials accused of their role in the massacre of September 28, 2009 (157 people were killed by the defense and security forces). security and more than 100 women had suffered sexual violence) resumed on November 13, nine days after the attack carried out by an armed commando against the Conakry prison which allowed the escape of four of the main defendants, including Moussa Dadis Camara . All, with the exception of the former Minister of Presidential Security, Claude Pivi, were recaptured. An explosion occurred on the night of December 17 to 18 in the country’s main fuel depot in Conakry, killing 24 people and injuring more than 450 people. The resulting fuel shortage caused an increase in the cost of living, the closure of schools and universities and numerous power cuts.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
In a decision handed down on October 31, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States ruled that Guinea had violated the rights to freedom of expression and information by restricting the access to the Internet and social networks in 2020.
The use of the main social networks was disrupted from November 24, without the authorities giving any official explanation. Access to social networks and news sites had already encountered difficulties for about a week in the context of anti-government protests in
May 17. The Minister of Posts,
Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, declared on November 30 that “the Internet is not a right”. He had recognized the
disruptions that occurred earlier in the year, which he however attributed to a technical problem linked to an underwater cable. The Guineematin.com news site was inaccessible from August 15 to November 5, without giving a reason. Citing “national security imperatives”, the High Authority of Communication sent letters on December 6 and 9 to Canal+ Guinea asking it to stop broadcasting Djoma FM and Djoma TV, Espace FM and Espace TV and ‘Évasion FM and Évasion TV. Star Times, another distributor, announced that it was removing Djoma TV, Espace TV and Évasion TV from its offering, for the same
reasons.
FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY
The general ban targeting all
political rallies in Guinea was still in force since May 2022. In Conakry, however, while the
Gatherings organized by the opposition coalition Forces vives de Guinée were banned, several meetings in favor of the head of state were authorized.
On June 1, the Kankan Court of First Instance sentenced two women to six months in prison, four of which were suspended, and a fine of one million Guinean francs (approximately 110 euros) each, and seven others to a six-month prison sentence accompanied by a fine of 500,000 Guinean francs (approximately 55 euros). These nine women were found guilty of “criminal participation in a
illegal assembly” because they had marched on May 24 to demand the return to power of former President Alpha Condé.
Following violent protests against the electricity shortage that took place on the night of March 27-28 in Kankan, during which an effigy of the president was burned, the city’s magistrate’s court sentenced 15 people , on April 13, to sentences ranging from four to 18 months of imprisonment, notably for unauthorized assembly.
ILLEGAL HOMICIDES
According to civil society organizations, media and political parties, at least 37 people have been killed by defense and security forces during protests since September 5, 2021.
A man was killed on April 16 in Wonkifong, in the Kindia region, during an anti-drug operation by security forces. Several people were injured on September 19 in Boffa, in the Boké region: the army reportedly shot at people who were blocking roads to protest against the lack of electricity.
On March 27, the court of first
court of Dixinn, in Conakry, sentenced a gendarmerie non-commissioned officer to 10 years of imprisonment and the payment of 100 million Guinean francs (approximately 11,000 euros) in damages for
the homicide of a 19-year-old young man, committed on June 1, 2022 in Hamdallaye, a district of Conakry, during a demonstration against the increase in the price of gasoline.
ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS
ARBITRARIES
After spending more than 10 months in
arbitrary detention, Oumar Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo, of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution, and Saikou Yaya Barry, of the Union of Republican Forces, were provisionally released on May 10. They had been accused of “criminal participation in a gathering, complicity in the destruction of public and private property, intentional assault and battery, arson and looting” because they had mobilized to demand the restoration of constitutional order. On June 13, the court of first instance of Dixinn, in Conakry, acquitted Oumar Sylla and
Ibrahima Diallo.
On October 16, 13 journalists were
arrested arbitrarily and brutally in Kaloum, a commune in Conakry, then taken to the central police station and referred to the court of first instance. They had participated in a peaceful demonstration organized by the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea to ask the authorities to lift restrictions on access to certain news sites, they were released the same day, after being charged with ” participation in an illegal assembly on a public highway.”
SEXUAL OR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Four men were sentenced on April 4 by the court of first instance of Mafanco, in Conakry, to sentences ranging from one to 20 years of imprisonment for rape and
violence which led to the death of M’Mah Sylla on November 20, 2021. The perpetrators were also ordered to pay one billion Guinean francs (around 110,000 euros) in damages to the victim’s father.
On October 18, United Nations agencies in Guinea called on the authorities to fulfill their obligation to combat violence against women and girls.
girls, after the death of a nine-year-old girl who had been raped in Dubréka (Kindia region) four days earlier.
RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
Despite concerns from civil society organizations about the consequences on the economic and social rights of the local population and the effects on climate change, the president officially relaunched work in the Simandou iron mine in March, which provide in particular for the construction of a railway and a port.
After 500 fishermen complained of skin rashes, Guinean authorities carried out an inspection on April 14 and discovered huge pockets of pollution 74 kilometers off the coast of Conakry. On June 19, the Ministry of Justice asked the Court for the Repression of Economic and Financial Offenses to initiate proceedings against “suspected ore vessels and the natural or legal persons who own, use or are responsible for said vessels”
for “alleged acts of marine pollution leading to skin rashes among artisanal fishermen and environmental damage”.