Lawyers in Guinea Go on Strike Over “Arbitrary Arrests”

According to the bar association, attorneys in Guinea launched a two-week strike on Tuesday in protest at what they perceived as the “arbitrary arrests” of residents in the country of West Africa under junta rule.

On July 9, Mamadou Billo Bah and Oumar Sylla, also known as Fonike Mengue, the leaders of a citizens’ movement demanding a return to civilian rule, were taken into custody.

According to their spokesperson, Gabriel Kamano, the attorneys plan to “protest against arbitrary arrests and other kidnappings followed by secret detention of Guinean citizens” on Tuesday.

Their walkout could jeopardize a historic trial over a 2009 tragedy that is thought to be among the worst in the country’s history.

It is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. on July 31, the day a Conakry court is expected to deliver its decision over the accusations of crimes against humanity against former Guinean dictator Moussa Dadis Camara.

Dadis Camara, along with eleven other government and military personnel, faces many charges of murder, sexual assault, torture, kidnapping, and abduction.

The authorities said that in spite of the strike, Dadis Camara and the other defendants’ trial would take place on July 31.

However, the prosecutor for the court did not say if the strike would stop the verdict in a widely publicized trial from being read out.

Since the colonels ousted elected president Alpha Conde in a coup in 2021, opposition voices have been mainly muted.

Any efforts by Guinea’s military-led government to rally support for a return to civilian rule have been met with fierce resistance.

They outlawed all protests and disbanded the FNDC, a civil society organization, in 2022.

Numerous opposition figures have been detained, appeared in court, or exiled.

In May, the authorities withdrew the licences of six radio and TV stations.