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Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance

& Other Ill Treatment

In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025                                          gvnet.com/torture/Guinea.htm

Republic of Guinea

The new criminal code adopted in 2016 eliminated the death penalty and explicitly outlawed torture for the first time.

In practice, security forces continued to engage in torture and other forms of physical violence with apparent impunity.

[Freedom House Country Report, 2018]

Description: Description: Description: Guinea

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Guinea.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the courtroom.  Perhaps your paper might focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures, starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing water.  On the other hand, you might choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who perpetrate such cruelty.  There is a lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Guinea

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guinea/

[accessed 22 July 2021]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

Abuse of inmates in government detention centers continued. Security officials designated as “judicial police officers” abused detainees to coerce confessions. Human rights activists noted the most egregious abuses occurred during arrests or at detention centers. Human rights associations stated that complainants often presented evidence of abuse, and wardens did not investigate these complaints. These NGOs also alleged that guards abused detainees, including children, and coerced some women into exchanging sex for better treatment.

PRISON AND DETENTION CENTER CONDITIONS

Conditions in civilian prisons, which are under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, remained abusive, with poor sanitation, malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical attention pervasive throughout the prison system. Conditions were allegedly worse in gendarme and police detention facilities designed for short-term detention.

Physical Conditions: Overcrowding remained a problem. According to the NGO World Prison Brief, in 2019 authorities held 3,782 detainees in facilities designed for 2,412 persons. Government-funded rehabilitation programs were underfunded and ineffective, leading some NGOs to try filling the void.

Freedom House Country Report

2018 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/guinea/freedom-world/2018

[accessed 12 May 2020]

F3.  IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES?

The new criminal code adopted in 2016 eliminated the death penalty and explicitly outlawed torture for the first time. The National Assembly passed a new military code of justice in June 2017, completing Guinea’s abolition of the death penalty. However, human rights watchdogs noted that the criminal code categorized 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 continued to engage in torture and other forms of physical violence with apparent impunity.

Human Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014

Human Rights Watch, 29 January 2015

www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/... or   www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf

[accessed 18 March 2015]

GUINEA

IMPUNITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CRIMES - Since 2010, the judiciary has opened several investigations into serious violations by the security forces, including the 2007 killing of some 130 unarmed demonstrators, the 2009 massacre and rapes of opposition supporters in a Conakry stadium; the 2010 torture of members of the political opposition; the 2012 killing of six men in the southeastern village of Zoghota; and the 2013 killing of demonstrators protesting the delay in holding parliamentary elections.

In 2014, investigative judges took steps to move most of these investigations forward, but their efforts were severely hampered by the failure of members of the army, gendarmerie, and police to respond to judicial summons.

Former head of Guinea’s presidential guard charged with torture, activists say

The Associated Press AP, Conakry, Guinea  2 August 2013

www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/02/former-head-guinea-presidential-guard-charged-with-torture-activists-say/

[accessed 21 March 2014]

Human rights activists in Guinea say that a former head of the country’s presidential guard is now facing torture charges.  Aboubacar Sidiki Camara is accused of ordering the torture of 17 people back in October 2010.

Activists say the presidential guard arbitrarily detained people and tortured them upon the instruction of Camara and his co-defendants.

Suspects on Trial Over Guinea Attack Claim Torture

The Associated Press AP, Conakry, Guinea  22 January 2013

bigstory.ap.org/article/suspects-trial-over-guinea-attack-claim-torture

[accessed 15 Aug  2013]

www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2013/01/22/suspects-on-trial-over-guinea-attack-claim-torture

[accessed 26 July 2017]

The trial began earlier this month. On Tuesday, defense lawyers sought to have military chiefs accused of a role in the torture testify. A day earlier, defendant Baba Alimou Barry said he'd been handcuffed, hung up from a pole and "almost died" while in custody.

IMPUNITY

In April and May, four people filed two separate complaints before a court in Conakry regarding torture that took place in 2011 and 2012. These concerned two instances in which gendarmes used torture to exhort confessions during a robbery investigation. Seven gendarmes were implicated and had not been brought to trial by the end of the year. One of the victims died from the injuries and another was seriously injured.

Step Up Efforts to Ensure Justice for Stadium Massacre

Human Rights Watch, 5 December 2012

www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/05/guinea-step-efforts-ensure-justice-stadium-massacre

[accessed 23 January 2013]

The 58-page report, “Waiting for Justice: Accountability before Guinea’s Courts for the September 28, 2009 Stadium Massacre, Rapes, and Other Abuses,” analyzes Guinea’s efforts to hold those responsible for the crimes to account. On that day, several hundred members of Guinea’s security forces burst into a stadium in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, and opened fire on tens of thousands of opposition supporters peacefully gathered there. By late afternoon, at least 150 Guineans lay dead or dying, and dozens of women had suffered brutal sexual violence, including individual and gang rape. More than three years later, those implicated have yet to be held accountable.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

From an old article -- URL not available

Article was published sometime prior to 2015

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by security forces continued.

In February, three men suspected of armed robbery were arrested and tortured at the police station in Bambeto, Conakry. One was tortured with electricity, and another was beaten for four hours with his hands tied behind his back, a method known as the “chinoise”. After refusing to confess, he was stripped naked and kicked as well as beaten with rifle-butts in front of his family. Both were sent to the Escadron Mobile No 2 in Hamdallaye where they were burned with cigarettes and held in the “brochette” position (handcuffed and suspended in a squatting position, with a piece of wood placed between the knees). The third arrested man was considered missing for a week before his body was found in the mortuary of Donka Hospital. He had died reportedly as a result of torture.

Search … AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

For current articles:: Search Amnesty International Website

www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=guinea+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance

[accessed 2 January 1, 2019]

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*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61573.htm

[accessed 23 January 2013]

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61573.htm

[accessed 4 July 2019]

TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law prohibits such practices; however, both civilian and military security forces beat and otherwise abused civilians. There also were reports that security forces used torture and beatings to extract confessions and employed other forms of brutality, including holding prisoners incommunicado without charges under inhumane conditions.

Students who were arrested in 2004 during a strike at the University of Conakry claimed to have been tortured in prison.

No action was taken against security forces responsible for reported abuses in 2003.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 7   Civil Liberties: 5   Status: Not Free

2009 Edition

www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/guinea

[accessed 23 January 2013]

LONG URL   ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21

[accessed 12 May 2020]

Under Conte, the nominally independent courts remained affected by corruption, a lack of resources, nepotism, ethnic bias, and political interference. Informal customary justice mechanisms operated in addition to official courts. Security forces have engaged in arbitrary arrests, torture of detainees, and extrajudicial execution with impunity, and prison conditions are harsh and sometimes life threatening. During the 2007 crackdown on demonstrations, security forces fired at unarmed protesters, leaving at least 137 people dead and nearly 2,000 wounded, according to Human Rights Watch. An official inquiry into these incidents stalled, reportedly due to government interference, and troops repeatedly fired into crowds during sporadic protests in 2008. The CNDD suspended the judiciary following the 2008 coup.

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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Guinea ", http://gvnet.com/torture/Guinea.htm, [accessed <date>]