Authorities in Guinea on Wednesday revealed that it would prosecute former president Alpha Conde for murder and other crimes committed during the period of his stay in office.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that the former President was toppled in a military coup last September.
Conde is among 27 former senior officials who are now billed to face prosecution for ‘murder, assassination, and complicity,’ according to a document which was made available to journalists on Wednesday by prosecutor Alphonse Charles Wright.
It was further gathered that other alleged crimes include detention, torture, kidnapping, disappearances, rape, and other sexual abuse and looting.
The list of names includes a former president of the constitutional court, ex-speakers of parliament, a former prime minister, as well as many former ministers, legislators, and heads of the security services who were part of the former regime.
Wright, who was appointed by the junta, said the prosecution was launched following a complaint filed in January by the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an umbrella group that had spearheaded protests against Conde.
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The documents given to journalists had special focus on alleged crimes committed in the last two years of Conde’s Presidency.
Recall that Conde, today aged 84, was ousted by mutinous soldiers amid anger at his successful bid for a third term.
In 2010 he had become the first democratically elected president in the history of the West African country.
But his popularity dived in his second term as critics accused him of authoritarianism, and opposition protests were violently repressed. Dozens died, the overwhelming majority of them civilians.
Tension escalated bloodily in the runup to elections in October 2020.
The vote, boycotted by most of the opposition, followed a controversial referendum on constitutional change months earlier.
Critics have continued to maintain that Conde was limited to two terms in office, but he argued that the change to the constitution meant that the clock had been reset to zero.
He was deposed on September 5, 2021, by army officers led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a former special forces commander.
Doumbouya has since been sworn in as interim president and implemented a crackdown on alleged corruption by the former regime.
Those being held in custody include former prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, former parliament speaker Amadou Damaro Camara, and ex-electoral chief Louceny Camara.