Guinea

Guinea deposits its instrument of ratification to the Rome Statute on 14 July 2003, and giving the ICC has jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on the territory of Guinea or by Guinean nationals from 1 October 2003 onwards.

Conté, a soldier, led Guinea from 1984 after taking over in a coup d'Etat until his death.

Hours after the announcement that Lansana Conté has died, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara read a statement on behalf of the Conseil National de la Démocratie et du Développement (CNDD) announcing that the constitution had been dissolved. A day later, Captain Camara was announced the President of the CNDD and with Camara promising "credible and transparent presidential elections by the end of December 2010." Sékouba Konaté becomes the vice president and minister of defense.

More than 150 peaceful protesters are massacred, hundreds more wounded, and more than a hundred women are victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence by security forces during an opposition rally at a stadium in Conakry. Security forces continue to commit abuses for several days in neighbourhoods largely inhabited by opposition supporters.

Guinea's then-minister of foreign affairs travels one week later to The Hague to meet with the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, where he tells ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that Guinea’s justice system is “able and willing” to handle the investigation and prosecution of the stadium crimes domestically

An international commission of inquiry, proposed by the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Moussa Dadis Camara is shot by Lieutenant Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite. Diakite commanded Guinea’s presidential guard, also known as the Red Berets. In an interview with Radio France International  he shot Camara on 3 December because the junta leader wanted him to take the blame for a massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators.

The commission concludes that at least 156 people were killed or had disappeared, and at least 109 women were victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence.

The National Independent Commission of Inquiry established by the Guinean authorities concludes that murders, rapes, and forced disappearances have been committed.

Since its first visit in 2010, the ICC has conducted regular visits to Guinea—averaging roughly twice a year—to assess progress in the investigation and press for further advances.

Panel quickly charge Abubakar “Toumba” Diakité, Guinea’s self-proclaimed president Moussa Dadis Camara's aide-de-camp, for his alleged role in crimes committed in the stadium massacre and rapes.

The International Federation for Human Rights and the  Guinean Organization for the Defense of Human Rights and the Citizen (OGDH) L'Organisation Guinéenne de Défense des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen initiate a partie civile action on behalf of victims’ associations and dozens of individual victims of the 28 September 2009 crimes.

Diallo, who was Prime Minister of Guinea from 2004 to 2006, took the lead after the first round of delayed elections.

After a delayed run-off vote, long-time opposition leader Alpha Condé wins the election beating Diallo in the second round.  

Two leading religious figures head the commission, Elhadj Mamadou Saliou Camara, the Grand Imam of Conakry Mosque, and Monseigneur Vincent Coulibaly, Archbishop of Conakry. The commission issues its report in 2016, resulting in amendments to Law on National Reconciliation. Civil society groups express concern that little progress has been made towards implementing the foreseen reconciliation process in the period since.

Moussa Tiégboro Camara, minister in charge of fighting drug trafficking and organised crime, is charged for his alleged role in crimes committed during the stadium massacre and rapes. Investigations were essentially suspended, however, from May to September 2012, due to serious shortcomings in resources available to the panel of investigative judges.

The Governor of Conakry, Commander Sékou Recso Camara, and General Nouhou Thiam, Chef of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, were indicted for ‘acts of torture’ committed in October 2010 under the transitional government of General Sékouba Konaté. Governor Camara was dismissed from his post the following month. Though not directly related to the 2009 Stadium massacre, the indictment of two high-level military and political actors for grave crimes committed under the former regime was an important step towards ending impunity. The trial has been delayed multiple times, with the most recent postponement in 2018.

A Guinean gendarme was arrested and charged with rape in connection with the September 2009 stadium massacre and its aftermath. As the first indictment of an accused perpetrator of sexual violence during those events, the charging of the unnamed officer was a significant step in the judicial process. However, in a 2019 statement, the Office of the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict emphasised that perpetrators of sexual violence committed during the 2009 attacks still had not faced justice. 

Lt. Col. Claude “Coplan” Pivi, Minister for Presidential Security and leader of the ‘red beret’ presidential guard, was charged for his alleged role in the crimes committed in the stadium in September 2009. Pivi was not put on leave from his government post despite the charges against him.

The appointment of Justice Minister Cheick Sako is widely credited with helping to energise progress in the investigation. Sako’s appointment leads to an increase in the number of security force members questioned.

The former president announced his candidacy despite being under investigation for crimes against humanity committed during the 2009 stadium massacre. At the time of the announcement, Guinean courts had issued an indictment requesting that Burkina Faso extricate Camara back to Guinea.

Accusations of torture against protesters detained at the military camp Koundara in the weeks following the 2009 stadium massacre lead to the arrest and charging of an ex-soldier. The case is significant as the first pertaining to crimes committed in the aftermath of September 28 against "dozens" of persons illegally detained and tortured in the detention centres and barracks.

Former President Camara is questioned in Burkina Faso, where he remains in exile, and charged by the Guinean judges for his alleged role in crimes committed in the stadium.

As with their counterparts established in Togo and Burundi, their aim was to allow the Guinean population to talk about which mechanisms of the transitional justice system should be implemented with a view to national reconciliation. Over 9,000 people are consulted. It is determined that the needs expressed as a priority by the Guineans questions related to the right to historic truth and the right to justice, along with a reparations strategy, in particular through the state’s official recognition of the crimes perpetrated under the different regimes in power in Guinea since 1958.

Crimes against humanity, genocide, persecution and torture now feature in the Guinean Penal Code, in which the prescribed penalty for the most serious crimes is life in prison. The new criminal code also eliminates the death penalty and explicitly outlaws torture for the first time. However, human rights watchdogs note that the criminal code categorised a number of acts that fall within the international definition of torture as merely “inhuman and cruel,” a category that does not carry any explicit penalties in the code. In practice, security forces continue to engage in torture and other forms of physical violence with apparent impunity.

Diakité, on the run since December 2009, is arrested in Senegal. Toumba commanded Guinea’s presidential guard, also known as the Red Berets, at the time of the 2009 crimes.

He is incarcerated at Conakry prison facility and efforts are made to ensure that he has a clean and secure individual cell that complied with international detention standards.

A panel of investigative judges questions Diakité at the end of March 2017.

Justice minister Cheick Sako announces that the investigation has been referred for trial in Conakry. More than a dozen suspects are charged, and Diakité is in Guinea’s custody after Senegal extradited him. In the course of its investigation, the panel of judges took a number of concrete and progressive steps to identify the most responsible perpetrators of the crimes committed. These steps include the interrogation and indictment of high-ranking officials, in Conakry and abroad; the interview of key witnesses, including government officials and opposition leaders; and the hearing of over 400 victims, of which approximately 50 are victims of sexual violence. In its closing orders decision, the panel of judges refers 13 of the 15 individuals indicted throughout the investigation to the Tribunal of Dixinn, the territorially competent jurisdiction in Conakry.

Minister Sako appoints a steering committee to organise the trial. Initially supposed to meet once a week, the committee only meets sporadically and has not yet set a trial date, raising concerns about the lack of progress.

Mohamed Lamine Fofana takes over as justice minister after Sako resigns. Hopes are pinned on him and President Conde to ensure the trial date is set and that the victims have the chance to see justice done.

Guinea’s Supreme Court dismissed appeals by civil parties petitioning against the outcome of the investigation into the 2009 stadium massacre, an investigation initially closed two years before, in 2017. The appellant civil parties issued their complaint after charges were dropped against two prominent suspects and the initial charge of crimes against humanity was requalified to charges of ordinary crimes. The Supreme Court’s decision cannot be appealed, officially closing the investigation into crimes committed in relation to the September 2009 stadium attack and removing the final judicial obstacle to opening the long-awaited trial of those most responsible.

During a visit to Conakry by representatives from the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Justice Minister Fofana announces that the Diakité trial will take place at the latest in June 2020. Challenges remain, including the construction or adaptation of a courtroom to host the trial, the appointment and training of magistrates, and the setting-up of a communication and security plan for all the actors involved in the proceedings.

The new constitution reset presidential term limits (normally two terms), allowing president Alpha Condé to run for a third term.

A week before the 2020 presidential election, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda issues a statement noting reports of pre-election violence and growing ethnic tensions in Guinea. She warns that "anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages or contributes, in any other way, to the commission of Rome Statute crimes, is liable to prosecution either by Guinean courts or by the ICC." She also reminds the authorities that if trials for the September 2009 stadium massacre fail to materialise, then it will be her obligation to open an investigation.

Condé is ousted by an elite army unit led by Commander Mamady Doumbouya, who was sworn in as interim president on 1 October 2021.

On the 13^th anniversary of the 28 September 2009, stadium massacre, the trial of 11 accused persons including Moussa Dadis Camara finally opened in the capital Conakry. The culmination of a long and much delayed process, the trial is being held in an Ad hoc tribunal that was specially constructed for the trial. The accused persons face charges including murder, assassination, rape, torture, kidnapping, arson, looting, among others.