CONAKRY, Guinea
A court in Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou on Wednesday indicted Moussa Dadis Camara, the former head of Guinea’s military junta, for a stadium massacre that occurred in 2009.
“I can confirm that my client has been indicted,” Jean Baptiste Haba, a lawyer for Camara, said. “An in-depth closed-door hearing is being conducted on the matter.”
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Maxime Monimou, a spokesman for Guinea’s opposition Patriotic Front for Democracy and Development (FPDD), said: “We were expecting it [the indictment]. It was planned by the current government.”
The FPDD, Monimou added, "is currently meeting to discuss the appropriate steps to be taken."
"This does not mean we will mobilize our activists for demonstrations, but we will continue to denounce this injustice," he added.
Camara had earlier declared his candidacy for Guinea’s upcoming presidential elections slated for October.
The Guinean government, for its part, has yet to issue a comment on the issue.
On Tuesday, two Guinean judges left Conakry to question Camara in Ouagadougou, where the former junta leader has lived in exile since 2010.
Camara came to power in a 2008 military coup following the death of Lansana Conte, who ruled the country from 1984 to 2008.
In late 2009, the country’s presidential guard violently put down an opposition gathering at a Conakry football stadium.
At least 157 people were killed in the incident and hundreds injured, according to the UN, which also alleged that dozens of women had been raped and that hundreds of people had disappeared.
According to Fatou Bensouda, a prosecutor for The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) who visited Guinea on July 3, over 15 people have already been charged in the case following an investigation launched after the election of President Alpha Conde in 2010.
