Guinea: Deaths, Criminality in Post-Election Violence | WPN World People News

There is credible evidence that Guinea’s security forces used excessive lethal force and engaged in other unprofessional conduct during violent street protests in February and March 2018, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 24, 2018. No member of the police or gendarmes has been arrested or charged.

Disputed February 4 local elections and a February 12 teachers’ strike led to violent clashes between the security forces and opposition demonstrators, and between government and opposition supporters. Seven people were shot dead in the capital, Conakry, and a rock thrown by a protester killed a gendarme. Medical records from five hospitals reviewed by Human Rights Watch suggest that at least 89 protesters or bystanders were injured during the clashes, at least 22 of whom were shot. Law enforcement officials said that more than 80 police and gendarmes had been injured, including a gendarme who lost an eye.

“Three months after Guinea’s latest round of bloody election violence the authorities have taken no concrete steps to investigate and sanction those responsible,” said Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The only way to break Guinea’s cycle of political violence and to provide justice for the victims is to conduct credible investigations and hold those implicated accountable.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 67 people in Conakry in April and May, including victims and witnesses to the violence from a range of ethnic groups and political parties. Human Rights Watch also interviewed doctors, journalists, law enforcement officials, elected officials, political leaders and activists.

Witnesses and journalists covering the protests said they were often violent, with demonstrators manning improvised checkpoints, burning tires, throwing rocks and using slingshots to fire projectiles toward security forces. They also said that some protesters sought to extort money or steal goods from passers-by.

In responding to protests, witnesses said, police and gendarmes fired teargas and live rounds into the air and, in several instances, toward demonstrators. “I saw one of the gendarmes shoot at my friend, and he fell, right in front of his family’s compound,” said a man who was at a café with 20-year old Mamadou Diakouana Diallo when he was shot dead on February 6. A medical report showed that Diallo had been shot twice, once on the arm and once in the chest.

Witnesses also said that security force members pursued protesters into neighborhoods, damaged property and stole goods. Guinea has a history of using excessive lethal force and of other abuses by security forces and a lack of political neutrality when responding to election-related opposition protests.

The leadership of the police and gendarmes told Human Rights Watch that the security forces are not permitted to carry weapons when responding to protests. They instead blamed demonstrators for the deaths, accusing them of carrying automatic weapons, although the officials did not allege that security force members had been injured by bullets of the type fired by automatic weapons. Numerous witnesses observed members of the police and gendarmerie carrying and firing automatic weapons.

After an April 2 meeting between President Alpha Condé and opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, a communiqué from the Guinean presidency said that the two parties would, “do their utmost to identify those responsible for any violence that led to deaths and that caused significant material damages in order to bring them before the courts.” In response to a June 22 letter from Human Rights Watch, Guinea’s Ministry of Justice said that investigations had been opened into the February and March deaths. When asked whether any member of the security forces had been arrested, charged or even disciplined, the ministry did not provide further details.

The government should ensure a speedy, transparent and independent investigation into the circumstances of killings during protests, leading to the prosecution of anyone responsible for the unlawful use of force, Human Rights Watch said. In future demonstrations, the government should ensure that security force members abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

The UN Basic Principles state that firearms should only be used in strictly limited cases such as “self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury,” and “only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives.” Intentional lethal use of firearms is only permissible “when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”

“Guinea’s politics risk being poisoned by the hostility and distrust between the security forces and opposition parties,” Dufka said. “Impartial investigations and sanctions for both security forces implicated in abuses and demonstrators breaking the law would show that the government is committed to protecting the rights of all Guineans, regardless of political affiliation.”

Source:Human Rights Watch