On Monday, July 10th, the trial of the September 28th massacre in Guinea resumed after weeks of interruption caused by a strike by lawyers and then a strike by prison guards. At the bar, accused Marcel Guilavogui, nephew of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, declared his intention to “tell the truth” about the events of that disastrous September 28th, 2009.
Marcel Guilavogui advanced towards the bar this morning in a large turquoise blue boubou. The eleven accused spoke at the start of the trial, but Marcel Guilavogui asked to speak and wanted to “light the lantern of the court for the history of the Guinean nation”. The civil parties had been heard since February.
The president of the court began consultations and gave the floor in turn to the prosecutor and a lawyer for the civil parties, both of whom decided in favor of a hearing of the nephew of Moussa Dadis Camara. The defense, very divided since the start of the trial, debated the question. Many lawyers asked to speak and their lively interventions resounded in the vast courtroom of the ad hoc tribunal.
Paul Yomba Kourouma has grandiloquently declared that when the hour of truth strikes, Marcel Guilavogui must blow it up. Meanwhile, Moussa Dadis Camara’s lawyers have opposed this advice, and press articles have revealed tensions between the former head of state and his former protege over the past two weeks.
A Testimony Finally Heard
Finally, the president decided to hear Marcel Guilavogui. He began speaking around noon local time, beginning with the reading of a lengthy introduction. He apologizes to the people of Guinea for his silence, which some took advantage of, he says. He says he was a “victim of intimidation which aimed to prevent him from telling the truth so as not to relate the real facts”. He accuses Moussa Dadis Camara of having organized the massacre.