Advocates Redesign

Category: Guinea

  • Enduring multiple hazards due to railway construction: The sad story of the Sekosuria Community

    The Sekosuria community, located in the Forécariah Prefecture within Guinea’s Kindia Region, continues to suffer the consequences of an ongoing railway and port construction project near the Morebayah estuary, just a few kilometers away. What was once a quiet rural area is now plagued by environmental disruptions that threaten livelihoods, safety, and health.

    Tunnel construction causing alarm

    A tunnel currently being excavated as part of the Simandou iron ore railway project — around 11.8 kilometers from the Kuru Mountains, south of the Fouta Djallon Highlands — is a major source of concern. Residents report persistent blast noise and ground vibrations from the railway work, which they say are damaging their homes.

    Cracks in buildings and a collapsing Health Post

    Community members shared that the constant blasting has caused cracks in both old and newly built structures, weakening them significantly and turning them into potential death traps. During a recent visit, residents pointed out multiple affected buildings, including one that reportedly collapsed due to vibrations.

    Even a newly constructed health post — a critical resource donated to the community — has developed widespread cracks, raising serious safety concerns.

    Noise and water pollution add to woes

    Beyond the structural damage, noise pollution is a daily challenge. The community also reported pollution of their main river, allegedly due to sewage discharge from the construction camp. This issue is particularly noticeable during the rainy season, when runoff becomes more intense.

    Dust pollution is another pressing concern. Construction-related vehicles, often moving in convoys, generate thick clouds of dust on the access roads. According to residents, “You must park off the road for them to pass.” They also noted that mud from bridge construction sites is washing into fertile farmland, threatening the stream that supports their vegetable cultivation.

    About the project

    The construction work is part of the Simandou iron ore project, one of the world’s largest undeveloped iron ore reserves. The project, spearheaded by the Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), involves building a 650-kilometer railway from the Simandou mountain range to a new port near the coast. While the project promises significant economic benefits to Guinea, its environmental and social costs are becoming evident in communities like Sekosuria.

    Despite repeated complaints, residents say their grievances have been ignored by both the project authorities and government officials. As of the time of reporting, attempts to obtain comments from the Winning Consortium Simandou and relevant government representatives have not been successful.

    What can be done?

    Community members are calling for urgent attention and action. Potential steps that stakeholders can take include:

    • Conducting independent environmental and structural impact assessments in affected communities.
    • Providing compensation to families whose homes or farmland have been damaged.
    • Establishing a formal grievance mechanism that allows community members to report issues and receive responses.
    • Implementing dust and wastewater control measures to mitigate environmental damage.
    • Improving communication and transparency between the community, construction teams, and government officials.

    As development projects like Simandou progress, the voices of local communities must not be drowned out by the noise of construction. Without mitigation and inclusion, infrastructure meant to drive national progress could leave some communities behind — or buried beneath it.

  • Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris begins hearing Zogota massacre victims

    The Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France has begun hearing the case brought before it by the survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea.

    The hearing was inconclusive as the government of Guinea was not represented, and as such not many arguments took place at the courtroom.

     

    The Presiding Judge said she would deliver her final decision on October 9, but it is still possible that she would reopen the arguments and give both sides a chance to submit more documentation and arguments.

     

    Among others, the judge asked lawyers for the plaintiffs to submit originals of some key documents and demonstrate that the government of Guinea was notified of the legal action.

     

    According to the lawyers, the Guinean government has been notified of the legal action while efforts are underway to furnish the court with the key documents being requested for.

    Exequatur suit

    In October last year, some survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea run to the Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France, to seek justice through a lawsuit against the Guinean state.

    Earlier in 2018, these survivors brought their case to the Abuja-based ECOWAS Court of Justice after their complaints were repeatedly stalled and ignored in the Guinean courts.  The ECOWAS Court found that Guinea had violated its international human rights obligations and ordered it to pay 4.56 billion Guinean francs (then approximately $436,000) to the plaintiffs, but the government is yet to comply.

    This led to an exequatur suit filed by the massacre survivors at the tribunal in Paris, which they hope will grant exequatur, or recognition, of the ECOWAS Court judgment.  The purpose of the exequatur suit is to recognize that the ECOWAS Court decision is enforceable in France, on an equal basis with judgments of the French courts.

    Exequatur, if granted, would allow the massacre survivors to locate and seize certain Guinean state assets in France to satisfy the ECOWAS Court’s compensation order.

    One of the biggest weaknesses in the international justice system for human rights abuses is the difficulty in enforcing human rights tribunals’ judgments against states, so this exequatur action could fill a major accountability gap.”

    High stakes

    The stakes in this action are high because not only could success make the difference that allows the Zogota massacre survivors to finally receive justice, but it would also pioneer an important new strategy for victims of grave abuses worldwide.

    “The exequatur procedure seems appropriate to us because it will allow the rights of victims of this atrocity to be restored. This is because of the refusal of the Republic of Guinea to execute the judgment of the ECOWAS Court of Justice”, Foromo Frederic Loua, one of the Lawyers for victims said in an interview.

    For his part, one of the village chiefs stated that: “We have suffered a lot from this atrocity, we lost close relatives, fathers, children and friends. And for a very long time we have continued to suffer, we have had no support from the Guinean authorities to date, we are asking for compensation for our losses and know that we can count on French justice.”

  • Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris hears Zogota massacre victims today

    Survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea are keeping their fingers crossed as hearing of their Exequatur suit begins today at the Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France.

    The stakes in this action are high because not only could success make the difference that allows the Zogota massacre survivors to finally receive justice, but it would also pioneer an important new strategy for victims of grave abuses worldwide.

    In October last year, some survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea run to the Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France, to seek justice through a lawsuit against the Guinean state.

    Earlier in 2018, these survivors brought their case to the Abuja-based ECOWAS Court of Justice after their complaints were repeatedly stalled and ignored in the Guinean courts.  The ECOWAS Court found that Guinea had violated its international human rights obligations and ordered it to pay 4.56 billion Guinean francs (then approximately $436,000) to the plaintiffs, but the government is yet to comply.

    This led to an exequatur suit filed by the massacre survivors at the tribunal in Paris, which they hope will grant exequatur, or recognition, of the ECOWAS Court judgment.  The purpose of the exequatur suit is to recognize that the ECOWAS Court decision is enforceable in France, on an equal basis with judgments of the French courts.

    Exequatur, if granted, would allow the massacre survivors to locate and seize certain Guinean state assets in France to satisfy the ECOWAS Court’s compensation order.

    One of the biggest weaknesses in the international justice system for human rights abuses is the difficulty in enforcing human rights tribunals’ judgments against states, so this exequatur action could fill a major accountability gap.

  • Simandou-related construction works: Senguelen residents in Guinea share their ordeal

    Some residents of Senguelen, a farming community in Guinea, are worried about the effects of construction works in the area on their lives. The on-going construction of a port and railway facilities at the Morebayah estuary, which is few kilometers to Senguelen, has resulted in direct environmental impacts on their livelihoods.

    Senguelen community members have not been mincing words on their ordeal. At a recent visit to the community to ascertain the veracity of these concerns, it came to light that several farmers who cultivate rice had their rice fields impacted by the construction of the railway.

    Rice farms destroyed

    A road has been constructed across a major river to serve as a platform for laying of the rails without any bridge to allow the free flow of water from upstream to the downstream of the river. This has since prevented water from reaching the rice fields and hence their destruction.

    As a result, these families have not been able to farm for the past three years. According to them, Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) officials gave them a sack of rice as compensation for the destruction of the rice fields. The contractors later inserted narrow pipes under the platforms on the river to serve as passage for the river water. The pipes were yet to be inserted at some dug out places of the platform across the river at the time of our visit. Some amount of water now flows to the downstream, but its flow pattern has changed and has not been able to restore the productivity of the rice fields.

    Contaminated water

    A rice farmer, Mr. Dawuda Sila, who has been cultivating several acres of rice along the banks of the upstream of the river, complained that he has not been able to farm over the past three years due to the contaminated water which is discharged onto his farm from the construction camp. Our team observed that long pipe connected from the camp discharges wastewater onto Mr. Sila’s farm. The pipe was not flowing at the time of our visit; however, remnants of previous discharge were seen. The soil and water were observed to be oily suggesting the discharge fuel and other oil-based wastewater into his farm which ends up in the river.

    Dust

    Residents also complained about dust from the construction site and from the dusty roads and complained that the heavy-duty vehicles that are being used by the contractor generate a lot of dust any time they use the dusty roads. What makes the situation worse is that the vehicles mostly move in convoys, making the amount of dust generated very intense to the extent that it completely blinds other road users. Besides, the dust enters the houses close to the road. Worst still, it is practically impossible to wear white clothes in this area because of the dust. The contractors have been watering the road but due to the hot weather the water dries up quickly and the problem with the dust continues.

    No compensation

    Mr. Dawud Ahmed complained that portions of his farm were destroyed by the contractor to create an access road and was told that the area has been compensated for the creation of the access road. It later turned out that that was not the route where the access road was supposed to pass and therefore the clearing was discontinued. Mr. Ahmed said he had reached out to the company about the issue which resulted in the destruction of his oil palm and cashew trees but to date e is yet to be compensated for the destruction of his farm. He has followed up several times, but his effort has not yielded any result.

  • The human cost of progress: Kaback fishermen caught in the wake of Simandou’s iron ore project

    Several concerns are being raised by some communities in the West African country of Guinea over various adverse effects of construction activities meant to pave the way for the kick-off of the Simandou iron ore mining project in Guinea, estimated at over two billion tons on some communities around the area. These construction activities continue to bring untold hardships to a lot of people whose daily lives are being impacted as a result.

    Human rights concerns, health challenges, environmental issues and disturbances on traditional and cultural monuments are key adverse effects of the various preparatory works being undertaken to pave the way for the Simandou project.

    Besides, large-scale mining and infrastructure development could lead to habitat destruction, loss of flora and fauna, and disruption of ecological balance.

    One community that is having its fair share of the negative effects of the sea dredging and the movement of vessels to the Morebayah port is Kaback, which is a fishing community located along the Atlantic Ocean at the eastern coast of Conakry. Even though there is no construction activity within the Kaback community, it is suffering from impacts of the sea dredging works and the movement of vessels to the Morebayah port.

    During a recent visit to the area by staff of Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), some community members took turns to share their frustrations with the NGO, which helps West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractive projects to take control of their futures.

    As a predominantly fishing community, the main complaint by Kaback residents has to do with the destruction of their fishing nets as they contended that there was a dredging activity in the sea close to where they have been fishing.

    According to them, the dredging was being carried out by Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) so that the vessels could sail to the port of Morebayah.

    “After dredging, the rocks were left in the sea instead of carrying them to a safe place along the shore or inland to prevent the rocks from causing harm or injuries to other users of the sea, they left them in the sea”, the community members lamented.

    It was observed during the visit to the community that the areas where the rocks from the dredging were gathered are not demarcated and the this is destroying the nets of the fishermen anytime, they go fishing.

    Even though the Simandou mining project holds high prospects for Guinea’s economy owing to its significance not just for its scale but also because of the high-grade iron ore it aims to extract, much needs to be done to mitigate the environmental and other socio-economic effects on people.

  • Financiers warned of huge risks to communities and biodiversity as Rio Tinto approves world’s biggest mining project

    Simandou deposit, Guinea. Photo: Rio Tinto
    The Board of Directors of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is exposing Guinean communities and the company’s shareholders to grave risks by approving a $6.2 billion investment in the Simandou iron project without adequately studying and mitigating environmental and social risks, according to civil society organisations BankTrack and Advocates for Community Alternatives.

    The Simandou project involves four extensive mining blocks in a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot in southeastern Guinea, over 650 km of new rail lines traversing chimpanzee habitat and the territory of at least 450 communities, and a dedicated port facility in a coastal area where artisanal fishing comprises the main source of income and food security.  While the project is still under construction, local communities have already reported widespread land theft, destruction of farmlands, profanation of cultural sites, pollution of sacred springs and drinking water sources, and degradation of fish stocks and other sources of livelihoods. (1)

    Rio Tinto is one of the main developers of the project through its controlling stake in a local joint venture, Simfer S.A., that was granted rights to mine half the iron ore deposit.  While much of the infrastructure for the project has been built by the holder of the other half of the mineral rights, the Chinese-led Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), Simfer is the joint owner of the railway and the port.

    “So far, Rio Tinto’s public commitments to strict social and environmental norms has been cold comfort to Guinean communities in the path of the Simandou project,” explained Jonathan Kaufman, Executive Director of Advocates for Community Alternatives.  “As co-owners of the rail and port facilities, they could have put a stop to the abuses and ensured that affected people receive a remedy for what they’ve suffered, but they’ve done nothing.”

    The project developers could mitigate the risks of the project if they properly studied and planned for them, but according to civil society advocates, both Simfer and WCS have failed to do so. (2)

    BankTrack, together with partners, first raised the alarm about the risks and impacts of this project last summer by publishing a Dodgy Deal profile. The banks financing Rio Tinto and the other project developers were also warned in a November 2023 letter, in which they were reminded of their responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. (3)

    The pollution of waterways, failure to respect social and environmental commitments, and decision to start construction before environmental review was complete all constitute violations of Guinean law that could threaten Rio Tinto’s legal and social licenses to operate.  They are also violations of the Equator Principles and the IFC Performance Standards, to which many international financial institutions have pledged adherence in their funding decisions.  If the project results in an environmental and humanitarian disaster, as Human Rights Watch has warned it could, financiers that uncritically support Rio Tinto will find themselves complicit.

    Banks funding Rio Tinto should therefore engage the company to ensure that harms so far experienced by communities are addressed, further risks are mitigated, and with the active participation of local communities. Specifically, banks should insist that Rio Tinto publicly commit to adhering to the IFC Performance Standards, submit to an independent audit under the IRMA standards for responsible mining, apply the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent with respect to the affected communities, and publicly disclose key project documents, including impact assessments and audits and the project’s Environmental Compliance Certificates.  

    Notes to editors

    (1) More information about the Simandou project’s risks and impacts can be found on BankTrack’s Dodgy Deal profile, here: https://www.banktrack.org/project/simandou_iron_ore_project_guinea 

    The profile includes up-to-date maps showing the project’s impacts on communities, protected areas, biodiversity hotspots and chimpanzee habitats produced by EarthInsight.

    (2) WCS’s environmental and social impact assessments are dire; for example, they predict irreversible impacts to groundwater systems that supply local communities and flow into the headwaters of the Niger River, a lifeline to millions of people in several arid West African countries.  But they are also inadequate; expert reviews have shown that they are based on outdated and inapplicable data, fail to include key mitigation plans for biodiversity and management of effluents, and dedicate insufficient funds for the preservation of endangered species such as the West African chimpanzee, the forest elephant, and the pygmy hippopotamus.  

    Rio Tinto’s own record of due diligence is no better; the company’s original impact plan for preserving biodiversity relied on “physically removing or scaring away animals,” and its current assessments and plans have not been made public.  In fact, Rio Tinto began clearing land and building its own section of railroad before its impact studies had ever been considered by the Guinean government.

    (3) Letters were sent to 23 major financiers of Rio Tinto, for an example see here.

    For media enquiries please contact:

    1. Emyloïa Kpadonou, Communications Officer, Advocates for Community Alternatives: +233 50 037 5984
    2. Ryan Brightwell, Research & Communications Director, BankTrack:  +31 634 643 116

  • PRESS RELEASE: Zogota Massacre Victims In Paris For Justice

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    Survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea are asking the Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France, to ensure that justice is finally served in their lawsuit against the Guinean state. The massacre survivors are supported by three non-governmental organizations: Guinean human rights defense organization Les Mêmes Droits pour Tous (MDT); Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), based in Ghana; and the French corporate accountability and anti-corruption organization Sherpa.

     

    PRESS RELEASE

    Factsheet on Zogota

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  • 10 years on, Zoghota Massacre survivors still struggle to get justice

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    Survivors of an August 2012 attack against the village of Zoghota, Guinea by state security forces organized a press conference  last month on the 10-year anniversary of the attack to demand that the Republic of Guinea comply with an order issued by the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja in 2020 to pay 4.56 billion Guinean francs (then approximately 436,000 U.S. dollars) to victims of the attack and their families.

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    Frédéric Loua, a lawyer at the Guinean human rights organization Les Mêmes Droits pour Tous (MDT) spoke representing the community at the conference saying, “the victims of the Zoghota massacre ask the Guinean state to immediately and without delay pay the amount of the sentence pronounced by the ECOWAS Court of Justice and to have those presumed responsible for the massacre judged for individual criminal responsibility.” The Zoghota people used this opportunity to renew their resolve to pursue all avenues in Guinea and internationally to hold their government accountable for the massacre.

    The order came as a result of a court case filed in 2018, after the community’s cases were repeatedly stalled and ignored in Guinean courts.

    Loua, pictured above at the press conference, has accompanied the people of Zoghota since the day of the attack. On Loua’s first visit to Zoghota on August 1, 2012, homes were still smoldering from fires the attackers had set only hours before. At that time the village of Zoghota in southeastern Guinea bordered an iron ore exploration site controlled by VBG, a mining company owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale and BSG Resources. Conflicts had arisen between the company and community over mining activities causing environmental damage, unfulfilled promises to employ local youth, and alleged mismanagement of VBG’s royalty payments intended for community development. The local communities also reported that they did not give the free and informed consent before the company set itself up in the area.

     

    Around 1:00 AM on August 4, 2012 – the night before the government was to meet with the community to discuss these conflicts – state security forces attacked Zoghota, firing bullets and tear gas. Five villagers were killed that night and a sixth later died of his injuries. More than a dozen villagers were arrested, some of whom were tortured by gendarmes. Homes and other buildings were torched, and almost the entire village fled. 

     

    One month later, Loua and MDT supported the community to file the first in a series of lawsuits against the individual police, gendarme, and military officers accused of carrying out the attack and their accomplice VBG, accused of supplying materials used in the attack.

     

    These cases have since been shuffled between Guinea’s civilian and military courts, languishing for years while the courts have allowed witnesses and defendants to ignore or flee from subpoenas, much to the dismay of Zoghota survivors and their lawyers. “After all that we had done, there was no justice. The state had no will to shine a light on what had happened,” Loua said.

     

    Faced with national court systems unwilling or unable to deliver justice to the victims, the community turned to the ECOWAS Court of Justice in 2018 to hold the Republic of Guinea responsible for the massacre, torture, and illegal detention of the people of Zoghota.

     

    In November 2020, the Court ruled the Republic of Guinea was responsible for violating the Zoghota villagers’ rights to life; to be free of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention; and to an effective remedy. A year after the Court had ordered Guinea to pay compensation to the victims, the Zoghota community appealed to the ECOWAS Commission to enforce the ruling.

    While Guinea’s government continues to ignore the ECOWAS ruling despite several meetings and advocacy, the people of Zoghota are tired of waiting for justice. Stymied at the state level, the community is ready to once again turn to international legal systems to enforce the ECOWAS ruling.

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  • The Republic of Guinea Refuses to Honour the Decision of the ECOWAS Court

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    The Republic of Guinea refuses to honor the decision of the ECOWAS Court of Justice in favor of Zogota Community

    Eight months after a judgment of the ECOWAS Court of Justice holding the Republic of Guinea responsible for the murder and torture of residents of Zogota Community during a 2012 massacre, the government has given no sign of compliance. By refusing to compensate the victims and punish the perpetrators of the massacre, Guinea violates international human rights law and flouts the authority of the Court.

    Factual Background
    Zogota, a village located in the forested zone of Southern Guinea, is the site of a rich deposit of iron ore. Just after midnight on 4 August 2012, Guinean security forces entered the community, firing wildly. They killed six villagers, wounded several others, burned homes, and stole personal property.

    The government’s attack was a reprisal against a large-scale protest over employment practices and environmental destruction at the Zogota iron mine owned by Vale-BSG Resources (VBG), an international mining conglomerate. During the protests, villagers from several of the communities surrounding the mine – led by the residents of Zogota Community – occupied the mine site and were accused of destroying company property.

    In August 2012, the Guinean organization “Mêmes Droits pour Tous” filed a complaint against the principal armed forces offiers who were responsible for the massacre. Unfortunately, this complaint was shelved and, eventually, lost in the Guinean legal system. Indeed, despite an extensive search, MDT has still found no trace of the complaint.

    MDT and Advocates for Community Alternatives, with the support of lawyers across the PILIWA network, then turned to the ECOWAS Court of Justice, where they filed a complaint on October 13, 2018, against the Republic of Guinea for violating the human rights of the victims of the massacre. At the same time, MDT filed an additional complaint in Guinea against VBG and its successors in light of the role that the company played in the massacre.

    The trial before the ECOWAS Court of Justice was held on February 6, 2020, in which the plaintiffs were represented by Me Pépé Antoine Lama. The complaint before the Guinean courts is currently under investigation.

    Justice denied to the victims of the Zogota massacre
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    In its judgment No. EWC/CCJ/JUD/25/20 of November 10, 2020, the Court held Guinea responsible for violating the right to life, freedom from torture and other inhuman treatment; freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; and the right to an effective remedy. These rights arise under several international treaties to which Guinea is a party, including:
    • The African Charter on Human Rights
    • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    • The Convention against Torture
    • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

    Consequently, the Court gave Guinea a period of 6 months to compensate the victims and their families. This judgment was formally registered with the Guinean judiciary in December 2020. However, eight months after the court ruling – which is binding on the State according to the ECOWAS Treaty and the Protocols of the ECOWAS Court– the Guinean government has taken no public action to fulfill its obligations to the victims and their families.

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    On the contrary, the authorities charged with implementing the judgment have turned a deaf ear to MDT’s communications. No steps have been taken, and no timetable has been set to bring justice to the victims. This clearly demonstrates the intention of the Republic of Guinea to deny justice to the victims of the atrocities committed by State agents against Zogota Community. By refusing to execute the judgment of the Court, Guinea government defies the institutions of ECOWAS and violates the texts that govern them.


    Submission to the ECOWAS Commission
    Due to lack of will on the part of the Guinea government to compensate the victims, MDT has now submitted a report to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, informing the Commission of the refusal to execute the judgment. In this report, the Commission is asked to take all measures for the effective implementation of the judgment in accordance with ECOWAS Community rules.

    The ECOWAS Court of Justice may refuse to hear any petition brought by the accused member state until such state implements its decision. And ECOWAS can take sanctions against the Republic of Guinea, such as suspension of new Community loans or assistance; suspension of disbursement on on-going or planned Community projects; ineligibility to present candidates for statutory and professional posts; and suspension of voting rights.

    In conclusion, we hope that the executive organs of ECOWAS will take all necessary measures to ensure the enforcement of obligations such as the decisions of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, and that no exception will be made for the State of Guinea.
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  • The Arrest of Human Rights Defender Me Antoine Pépé Lama

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    The arrest of human rights defender Me Antoine Pépé Lama: an infringement on the freedom of expression of all human rights defenders in Guinea

    Mr. Pépé Antoine Lama, Lawyer at the Bar of Guinea, member of the Bar Council, and active member of Les Mêmes Droits pour Tous and the PILIWA network, was arbitrarily arrest last month by the Guinean police.

    Facts of the arrest
    On Monday, June 7, 2021, around 12:00 p.m., Mr. Lama was arrested on the premises of the Judicial Police Headquarters (Direction Centrale de la Police Judicaire, or DCPJ). Mr. Lama was at the DCPJ in performance of his duties as a lawyer and human rights defender, as he was there to meet with Commissioner Mathieu Haba about a criminal defendant whom he is defending in court.

    Once he arrived, Commander Sékou LY directed Mr. Lama to go to the office of Comptroller-General Aboubacar Fabou CAMARA, without giving any reason. Commander Ly and the Comptroller-General proceeded to violently insult and threaten Mr. Lama, exclaiming: “Look at that! Who do you think you are? I’m going to bring you up on charges. You think we’re playing? I’ll show you how to play!” They then arrested him without cause. Mr. Lama was only released thanks to the intervention of the Guinean Bar Council.

    Complaint filed
    Due to this unfortunate act, Me Antoine and the Guinea Bar Council filed a complaint on June 8, 2021, against Sékou LY and Aboubacar Fabou CAMARA before the 1st Criminal Court of Conakry for public insult and infrigement of individual liberties. The defendants appeared in Court on and were released on bail in the amount of 3,000,000 Guinean francs (approximately 300 U.S. dollars). However, following the intervention of the Guinean Minister of Justice to pacify the parties and find an amicable settlement, Me Antoine and the Bar Council withdrew their complaint.

    Human rights defenders are constantly harassed in Guinea:
    The arrest of Me Pépé Antoine Lama is not a first. His detention is part of a worrisome pattern of detention of active human rights defenders in Guinea that violate the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998. These arbitrary detentions and threats constitute acts of intimidation aimed at deterring human rights defenders and punishing their legitimate activities.
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