Guinea: Three civil society personalities released, 7 people killed during a demonstration

Three civil society personalities who had been imprisoned for several months in Guinea were released on Wednesday in Conakry, the same day that seven people were killed during a protest organized to demand, among other things, their release.

The leaders of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC in French), Oumar Sylla, also known as Foniké Mangué, Ibrahima Diallo and Mamadou Billo Bah, « were released from prison at 10:30 p.m.

They are completely free», said Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, the communications director of the FNDC, a collective that challenges the junta in power in Guinea.

The group of lawyers responsible for the defense of Mr. Sylla, Diallo and Bah « has just learned of the release of our clients without trial, without conditions», said one of its members, Mr. Salifou Béavogui, in a statement sent to AFP.

Mr. Béavogui denounced that for several months « Citizens have been deprived of their freedom without trial», and «regrets that throughout the duration of this arbitrary detention, all requests regularly submitted (by their defense) were systematically rejected without any examination of their relevance.»

The liberation

Foniké Mangué and Ibrahima Diallo have been detained since July 2022, and Mamadou Billo Bah since January 2023.

It was not immediately possible to know the reasons given by the justice system for their release.

The three detainees were released from prison on the same day that a collective, of which the FNDC is a member – which was dissolved by the junta – organized demonstrations in Conakry and in the provinces to demand their release and that of other detainees, among other demands.

According to a report from the opposition «active forces of Guinea», seven people were killed and 32 others were injured by bullets in the capital during this demonstration. The Guinean authorities, contacted by AFP on Wednesday evening to confirm or refute this report, remained unreachable.

The release of the three men, as well as all prisoners described as political by the opposition, is one of the primary demands of the active forces of Guinea.

They also demand the opening of a dialogue aimed at a quick return of civilians to the head of the country, as well as the lifting of the ban on any demonstration imposed by the junta in 2022.

They also demand the opening of a dialogue aimed at a quick return of civilians to the leadership of the country, as well as the lifting of the ban on any demonstration imposed by the junta in 2022.

The religious mediation

The three detainees had refused on Monday to be released in exchange for their commitment to give up their activism, according to the collective of lawyers defending them.

 This is happening while religious leaders have been working for weeks to restore dialogue between the junta and the opposition.

The religious mediation had met with government representatives on Monday and assured that, even in the absence of the opposition, the « lines (had) moved » and that the authorities were ready to release the three prisoners, according to one member of the delegation, Anglican Bishop Jacques Boston.

The mediation then went to the Conakry prison. It « carried the message that the government had acceded to the request for release under judicial control of the detainees, on condition that they no longer pursue their civic struggle, particularly the organization of peaceful demonstrations, » the collective of lawyers said in a in a statement received by AFP on Tuesday.

International pressure

But the prisoners «reject any offer of release under judicial control and any commitment to renounce their civic struggle», the lawyers had said. «They demand the immediate opening of their trial (…) failing which, their release».

Guinea has been ruled by a junta since 2021, which came to power in a coup. Under international pressure, the military agreed to hand over power to elected civilians by the end of 2024, allowing time, according to them, to carry out profound reforms.

Several opposition leaders have been arrested or faced prosecution under the junta.

Sitou

Source : africanews