A high-stakes trial over the killings and sexual crimes in Conakry in 2009 has begun.
Conakry, Guinea – For greater than a decade, Oumou Barry has stored her torn, bloodstained gown in a plastic bag together with a CT scan of her damaged scapula as proof of her rape by a Guinean soldier at a stadium within the capital, Conakry, on September 28, 2009.
“That is the gown I used to be sporting that day,” the 63-year-old retired secretary and grandmother of 11 instructed Al Jazeera. “I at all times have it with me once I do interviews. That is proof of what they did to me.”
She was amongst a whole lot of Guineans who got here out to protest towards navy strongman and coup chief Dadis Camara’s choice to run for the presidency.
In December 2008, Camara seized energy hours after the demise of President Lansana Conté, proclaiming himself head of the transitional authorities and promising to organise free and honest elections excluding members of the navy authorities.
By April 2009, he had back-pedalled, hinting that he would possibly run for president. Tons of took to the streets to peacefully protest, and the Guinean navy entered the stadium the place protesters had gathered and began firing weapons on the crowd.
At the very least 150 folks have been killed, in response to Human Rights Watch. Stories additionally present that ladies have been particularly focused by Guinean troopers. Witnesses mentioned that 4 ladies have been shot lifeless after being sexually assaulted.
“It got here as a shock to the general public due to the dimensions and scope of the sexual violence that was described,” Souleymane Sow, nation director at Amnesty Worldwide, instructed Al Jazeera. “From 2009 to 2012, the query of sexual violence and rape was by no means addressed. There weren’t many mechanisms that inspired victims to talk up.”
Nonetheless, on the thirteenth anniversary of the bloodbath, the extremely anticipated trial of Camara and different defendants started.
Barry was among the many first survivors to talk about the horror that unfolded on the stadium. Behind an workplace door on the victims’ affiliation headquarters, an organisation created to stress the federal government to hunt justice and reparations for survivors, she revealed her scars; dents on her leg and hips; and the thick stitched-up line travelling from her shoulder to her higher again.
The troopers had used dwell ammunition in addition to machetes and knives to assault the protesters.
“I nonetheless don’t understand how I made it out of there,” she mentioned. “It was chaos in all places. When folks realised there was no means out of the stadium, they panicked. Everyone was stepping on one another … on our bodies.”
She struggled to recount what occurred subsequent as she crawled her technique to the stadium’s exit after it had lastly opened. “A younger soldier screamed at me and instructed me that I used to be going to get what I deserved,” she mentioned. “He then knocked me down, unfold my legs and compelled himself on me.”
‘So many people misplaced every part’
Gender-based violence stays a taboo topic within the West African nation, the place victims typically bear the stigma of their assaults.
“When my husband discovered that I used to be raped on the stadium, he divorced me,” Barry instructed Al Jazeera. “He felt it was too shameful to bear.”
In 2021, the police handled greater than 400 instances of rape, and a lot of the victims have been minors, in response to a current report from Amnesty Worldwide, which concluded that the actual figures of rape instances are undoubtedly a lot increased.
In 2016, Guinea strengthened its penal code relating to rape, however victims who wish to file a criticism with the police are nonetheless required to point out a medical certificates to show assault.
“That’s why this trial is so vital,” Sow mentioned. “We not solely hope that the killings can be condemned, but additionally, the sexual crimes that have been dedicated. Impunity surrounding gender-based violence has to finish.”
Like different survivors of the bloodbath, Barry has discovered therapeutic in group. Just a few years in the past, she joined SEMA, the International Community of Victims and Survivors to Finish Wartime Sexual Violence, and has been advocating for different survivors to make their voices heard.
“600 folks got here out to inform their facet of the September twenty eighth story, however to this present day, many survivors received’t communicate out,” she mentioned.
“They did all kinds of issues to me,” Saran Cissé, additionally a member of SEMA, instructed Al Jazeera. “They behaved like animals. After I lastly made it dwelling very late that night time, I selected to cover my wounds to my household. I didn’t inform them what occurred. I attempted to sleep, however the ache was excruciating.”
Shortly after the bloodbath, Cissé left Guinea to go to Senegal for medical remedy.
“After I returned dwelling, I attempted to maneuver on, however folks have been taking a look at us, blaming us,” she mentioned. ”I couldn’t sleep at night time. I used to be traumatised and exhausted. Many people misplaced our husbands after they discovered we have been raped. So many people misplaced every part.”
Within the aftermath of the tragedy, Camara denied accountability and blamed the violence on rogue safety forces.
Just a few months later nonetheless, a Human Rights Watch investigation discovered that crimes towards humanity had been dedicated and that the circumstances of lots of the killings and abuses described counsel that “they have been dedicated with both the consent or an specific order from Guinean navy commanders as excessive as President Moussa Dadis Camara”.
Within the decade after, human rights organisations have more and more complained about delays within the judicial course of.
“The was no political will for it to occur,” mentioned Frederic Loua, a human rights lawyer who served on the nationwide investigation fee launched in 2009. “Alpha Condé was president for over 10 years, and it wasn’t his precedence in any respect. It wasn’t a precedence for any of the political actors for that matter.”
A 12 months in the past, present President Mamadi Doumbouya got here to workplace after one other navy coup. It's underneath his authorities that the trial has been launched.
For a number of weeks, 11 suspects, together with Camara and former high-ranking authorities and navy figures, have taken the stand in a trial broadcast on nationwide tv each night time.
“The stakes are excessive,” Conakry-based political analyst Kabinet Fofana instructed Al Jazeera. “If Dadis Camara is discovered responsible, it might set precedent for political leaders on this nation.
“We discover ourselves in an analogous political equation to that of 2009 with a transitional authorities that's anticipated to organise elections quickly, so, in fact, this trial is garnering plenty of consideration and there's a lot using on it,” he added.
However activists and opposition leaders surprise what is going to occur subsequent.
“Who could be discovered responsible of what occurred?” requested Fofana, head of the Guinean Political Science Affiliation. “Who ordered the killings? Did somebody order troopers to rape ladies? If that's the case, how can we show it when a lot of the suspects appear to be blaming the following individual?”
On October 17, the prosecution started questioning Marcel Guilovagui, Camara’s former aide. He’s suspected to have performed an vital position within the bloodbath. However Guilavogui, who has been imprisoned since then, nonetheless rejects the accusations. “I used to be by no means on the stadium. I didn’t shoot anybody. I didn’t have a machete,” he mentioned.
Opposition chief Cellou Dalein Diallo, one of many protest organisers, was within the stadium along with his supporters and is relieved that the trial is lastly occurring.
“I used to be left for lifeless on the pitch,” he mentioned in a current interview with RFI. Fortunately, I used to be picked up and brought to the Samory navy camp, the place I regained consciousness.”
Diallo mentioned the trial requires an unbiased judiciary.
“There are reputable issues that [the trial] can be used to sentence the organisers of the demonstration,” he mentioned.
In the meantime, Human Rights Watch reported that safety forces engaged in an organised operation to cover the proof of their crimes, persecuting survivors and eradicating the our bodies for burial in mass graves.
“There have been roadblocks throughout city,” Cissé instructed Al Jazeera. “Troopers in all places. It appeared to me that they have been doing every part they may to cover proof of what that they had carried out.”
“Following the trial has been tough as a result of most of us can’t afford to commute to court docket every single day,” Cissé mentioned. “We'd like authorities assist to attend the hearings. We don’t wish to watch the trial on tv. We need to be there in court docket.”
However the sufferer’s affiliation’s precedence has been for his or her ordeals to be acknowledged and to acquire compensation.
“13 years just isn't 13 days or 13 weeks,” mentioned Barry, who’s been anxiously ready for the day she’ll lastly get to inform her story from the stand.
“We wish this trial to lift consciousness to what can occur to the weak on this nation, in order that it by no means occurs once more,” she mentioned. “We wish reparations for what was carried out to us and brought from us, so we are able to go on rebuilding and therapeutic.”
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