The former president of the West African nation of Guinea was found guilty on Wednesday of crimes against humanity for overseeing a massacre in a stadium and mass rape of pro-democracy demonstrators 15 years ago, a landmark verdict long awaited by survivors and relatives of the 150 people who were killed.
The trial of the former president, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, as well as 11 others including the former head of the presidential guard, government ministers and security officials, was seen as a test for the region in holding military rulers to account. It was televised in Guinea and followed avidly by many of the country’s 14 million citizens.
Captain Camara was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Lieutenant Aboubacar Diakité, the former head of the presidential guard, was sentenced to 10. The judge found six other defendants guilty and acquitted four, including a former health minister.
“Moussa Dadis Camara should be declared guilty of crimes against humanity on the basis of command responsibility,” said Ibrahima Sory II Tounkara, the judge in the trial, which was held in a courtroom built for the occasion in the capital, Conakry.
The massacre, which traumatized a generation of Guineans, happened on Sept. 28, 2009, when pro-democracy protesters were holding a massive rally in a stadium in Conakry against Captain Camara, who had seized power in a coup.
He was accused of overseeing the massacre, in which hundreds of security forces burst into the stadium and opened fire on the demonstrators.
In addition to those killed, hundreds of people were wounded and at least 109 women were raped or sexually assaulted, some with batons and bayonets, according to witness accounts and a 2009 United Nations investigation.
The bodies of those who had tried to flee or hide were found scattered across the stadium’s field and around its gates, walls, and locker rooms.
Afterward, security forces tried to cover up the massacre, burying bodies in mass graves and sealing off the stadium, according to Human Rights Watch, which asserted that the abuses on and after Sept. 28 were premeditated and organized, and amounted to crimes against humanity.
