Guinea’s governing junta has forgiven the former dictator of the country, Moussa “Dadis” Camara, who served a 20-prison sentence for the 2009 Stadium massacre by the military, according to a decision on the television of the state.
Camara was sentenced in July 2024 after pleading guilty to crimes against humanity in the death of at least 157 people in the stadium. Dozens of women were also raped.
Troops set fire to protesters in the stadium protesting Camara’s plans to serve president, a year after he staged a coup.
At the time, the junta “uncontrolled” elements of the army said the rapes and murders carried out. But Camara’s leading assistants were in the stadium and did nothing to stop the massacre, a report from Human Rights Watch says.
Many of the victims were shot, crushed or killed, while some of the women were hidden in a few days and gang was raped by uniform men, witnesses said. Many people could not flee from the gunfire after the presidential guard of Camara surrounded the stadium and blocked the exits, according to the survivors.
It took a few days before the victims’ families were allowed to fetch the bodies, and many people never found their family members.
Camara fled in captivity after surviving an assassination attempt a few months after the massacre, but returned to Guinea more than a decade later. The current junta, led by Mamady Doumbouya, seized power in September 2021.
“If I’m here in front of you, it’s because of my patriotism, otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed to come,” he said in court on his first day. He said he was sleeping when the massacre unfolded.
While in jail late last year, Camara was released by armed men who stormed the country’s main prison, but was rehearsed for hours later, while his lawyer said he had been kidnapped.
