Three opposition leaders have been imprisoned in Guinea for seven months and are yet to stand trial.
In July 2022, Foniké Mengué, a journalist and coordinator of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), Ibrahima Diallo, the FNDC operations manager, and Saïkou Yaya Barry, the secretary general of the Union of Republican Forces (UFR), were taken into custody for their involvement in protests against the military regime. They are facing charges of “unlawful assembly,” “complicity in destruction,” and “complicity in assault and battery.”
Today, their lawyer denounces the slowness of justice and appeals to the Supreme Court to “examine the files quickly”: “On August 1, our clients were arrested and placed in pre-trial detention. The file was entrusted to an investigation office which instructed for and exonerated dropped eight of the offenses over the fortnight which were charged. We were about to go to the hearing. The public prosecutor appealed. »
“Arrived at the court of appeal, continues the lawyer, the order of the right of the judges was confirmed. While we were still preparing to come to the hearing, the Attorney General appealed. On January 25, the case was sent to the Supreme Court. So far, there is no evolution, absolutely nothing. Are our clients serving prison terms to which they have not yet been legally sentenced? »