Amnesty International Report 2015/16 - Guinea

Republic of Guinea
Head of state: Alpha Condé
Head of government: Mohamed Saïd Fofana

In the context of the presidential election, authorities banned demonstrations and the security forces regularly used excessive force against demonstrators. Arbitrary arrests continued, including of opposition members. People were arrested because of their perceived sexual orientation. Impunity for human rights violations persisted.

BACKGROUND

President Alpha Condé was re-elected in October with 57.84% of the vote. The opposition contested the election results, citing irregularities. Violence between members of opposition parties and clashes with security forces led to at least 20 deaths and hundreds of people injured in incidents linked to the elections throughout the year.

INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY

Guinea's human rights record was assessed under the UPR in January. The concerns raised included restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, excessive use of force to disperse demonstrators and a culture of impunity within the security forces. Guinea did not accept recommendations to abolish the death penalty or to decriminalize consensual same-sex relations.[1]

EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE

At least 20 people died during violence around the election period, at least half of which were killed by security forces.[2] Other people, including children, were injured by live ammunition, misuse of riot equipment, or in accidents with security force vehicles. Three journalists were beaten by the police in Hamdallaye, Boké region, in May.

In June, the National Assembly passed a bill on maintaining public order which defined how and when force can and cannot be used to police protests. The bill could restrict the right to peaceful assembly: it would not allow spontaneous public assembly, while security forces would retain the power to disperse groups of otherwise peaceful protesters if at least one person is believed to have a weapon. Such clauses could be used as grounds for banning or repressing peaceful protests.

ARBITRARY DETENTIONS

Members of opposition groups, trade unionists and other people who expressed dissent were arbitrarily detained ahead of the elections.[3] Jean Dougo Guilavogui, a union leader and retired member of the armed forces, was arrested in the capital, Conakry, on 19 September and detained without being brought before judicial authorities until his indictment on 25 September. His extended detention is contrary to international law and to Guinean law. Four other members of the union were arrested in October. All of them were charged with contempt of the head of state and defamation. They were still in detention at the end of the year.[4]

In May, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the detention of General Nouhou Thiam, Adjudant Mohamed Kaba, Lieutenant Mohamed Condé, Colonel Saadou Diallo and Lieutenant Kémo Condé was arbitrary. They were arrested in 2011 following an attack on President Condé's house. The Working Group called on Guinea to release the men. They were still in detention at the end of the year.

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE

Article 325 of the Criminal Code criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual acts. At least three people were arrested because of their perceived sexual orientation. Two men were arrested on 22 April in Conakry. In May, the Tribunal of Mafanco sentenced them to three months' imprisonment.

IMPUNITY

Investigations continued into the massacre in the Grand Stade de Conakry in 2009, when security forces killed more than 100 peaceful demonstrators and injured at least 1,500 others. Dozens of women were raped and others disappeared. Moussa Dadis Camara, then head of the military junta, was indicted in July. Mamadouba Toto Camara, then Minister of Public Security and Civilian Protection, was indicted in June.

Impunity for other human rights violations committed by members of the security forces persisted. No progress was made towards bringing to trial gendarmes and police officers suspected of criminal responsibility for using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, leading to death and injuries between 2011 and 2015.

There was no investigation of members of the police, gendarmerie and army who were involved in the systematic pillage and contamination of water sources of Womey, Nzérékoré region, in September 2014. Security forces had been deployed to the area following the killings of seven members of an Ebola sensitization team and a bystander in Womey. Several people arrested reported being subjected to torture and at least six women were raped as they attempted to return to their village to seek food or valuables. Two men died in detention in December 2014 and May 2015. In April, the Tribunal of Nzérékoré sentenced 11 of the villagers to life imprisonment for murder.

In March the Assize Court of Kankan adjourned the trial of four security force members charged with killing six people during a strike at a mine in Zogota in 2012. The accused officers failed to appear in court.

In June, members of the community of Saoro village, Nzérékoré region, filed a case before ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, claiming that the Guinean authorities made no effort to prosecute security forces accused of arbitrary arrest, torture, rape and unlawful killings of villagers protesting against their forced eviction in 2011.

[1] Guinea: The culture of excessive use of force threatens civil and political rights ahead of the presidential elections (AFR 29/1950/2015)

[2] Guinea: Preventing the excessive use of force and respecting freedom of peaceful assembly in the run-up to the 2015 elections and beyond – a call to action (AFR 29/2160/2015); "Guinea: Unarmed people shot in the back and beaten to death by the security forces in Conakry" (News story, 22 October)

[3] Guinea: Urgent health concern for two detainees (AFR 29/ 1868/2015); Guinea: Further information: Two detainees released on health grounds (AFR 29/1889/2015)

[4] Guinea: Further information: Four more trade unionists detained (AFR 29/2660/2015)