James Tasamba
13 May 2022•Update: 13 May 2022
KIGALI, Rwanda
Prosecutors in Guinea on Thursday announced the opening of a judicial investigation into ex-President Alpha Conde and other former top officials for crimes allegedly committed during his rule.
The former leaders are being investigated in relation to allegations of murder, complicity in murder, torture, kidnappings, looting and rapes, the local daily Africa Guinee reported, citing a statement from prosecutor Alghassimou Diallo of the Court of First Instance.
The crimes were allegedly committed during the 2020 constitutional referendum vote that allowed Conde to run for a third term and the subsequent presidential elections won by Conde the same year.
The other ex-officials facing investigation include Conde’s former Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, former Defense Minister Mohamed Diane and several other officials of the deposed regime, according to the media report.
The prosecutor invites all victims, relatives of victims and in general all persons, structures or entities that can provide information leading to the successful prosecution of the suspects to come forward, the report said.
The investigations follow the instructions of Attorney General Charles Wright.
Diallo assured that potential witnesses will be protected throughout the proceedings.
The personalities facing probes are not allowed to leave the national territory pending investigations, the report said.
The military, led by army colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, deposed President Conde, 84, last September.
Fofana served as prime minister until the military staged the coup which deposed Conde.
Conde became Guinea's first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.
In 2020, he pushed through constitutional amendments that allowed him to run for a controversial third term, which he won in an election dismissed as a sham by the opposition.
Mass demonstrations, in which dozens of protesters were reported killed, erupted after the vote.
