Guinea: Create Special Unit to Probe Protest Deaths | WPN World People News

The government of Guinea should set up a special task force of judges to investigate the conduct of the security forces and others engaged in unlawful acts during protests. The government’s failure to adequately investigate a dozen alleged killings in 2018 by the security forces and several alleged killings by protesters risks fueling future abuses.

Anti-riot police clash with Guinean opposition supporters in Conakry on March 22, 2018.

Guinea experienced frequent and violent street protests in 2018, as nongovernmental groups and opposition parties organized demonstrations linked to disputed local elections, a long-running teachers’ strike, and anger at fuel price increases. With tensions mounting over whether President Alpha Condé will seek to amend the constitution and run for a third term in office, further street protests are likely.

The failure to adequately investigate alleged misconduct by the security forces and violence by demonstrators risks fueling future cycles of political violence,” said Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The Guinean government should take concrete steps to reverse the longstanding impunity for these kinds of violations. Families and victims deserve nothing less.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 55 people in January and February 2019 about the conduct of the security forces during protests, violence by demonstrators, and the justice system’s response. Interviewees included participants in and witnesses to demonstrations, opposition political activists, law enforcement officials, local nongovernmental groups, doctors, and journalists. Human Rights Watch had conducted previous research on this issue in July 2018.

Witnesses and journalists covering the protests said they were often violent, with large groups of protesters and security forces clashing along main streets of Conakry, the capital. A projectile thrown by a demonstrator killed a gendarme, Mohamed Chérif Soumah, on February 19, 2018. On November 8, protesters in Wanindara fatally stabbed a police officer, Bakary Camara, who had become separated from his unit.

The leadership of Guinea’s police and gendarmerie say that the security forces are only permitted to use non-lethal weapons in responding to protests, such as teargas and water cannons. But witnesses to eight of the dozen fatal shootings during protests in 2018 alleged that members of the security forces fired automatic weapons while trying to disperse demonstrators or while pursuing them through local neighborhoods.

“The gendarmes tried to chase off a crowd of demonstrators, and people started running,” said a witness to the October 30 death of Mamadou Cellou Diallo, a taxi driver killed in the Bambeto neighborhood during an opposition protest. “Mamadou doesn’t know the neighborhood well and didn’t know where to run. He was hit before he could get inside.”

Human Rights Watch also documented in earlier reporting that stray bullets the security forces fired recklessly into the air killed at least one person in 2018 – a young mother of six – and wounded many others.

More than 20 witnesses also said members of the security forces damaged property and stole goods as they pursued protesters. In several cases, family members of people detained during the demonstrations said that police and gendarmes demanded bribes to free their relatives. Groups of protesters also frequently sought to extort money or steal goods from passers-by, according to witnesses.

The authorities’ failure to adequately investigate deaths and other abuses during the 2018 protests reflects a familiar pattern dating back years. The February 4, 2019 conviction of a police captain for the 2016 killing of a demonstrator was the first conviction of a member of the security forces for shooting a protester dead since 2010.

International human rights standards give security forces the right to use proportionate force for legitimate self-defense, as well to arrest protesters engaging in violence. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, however, states 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 2015 law on maintaining public order requires security forces to use non-violent means before resorting to force and requires any use of firearms to be necessary and proportionate.

In an April 8 letter to Human Rights Watch, Guinea’s Minister of Defense, Doctor Mohamed Diane, whose ministry oversees the gendarmerie, said that, “contrary to the unfounded allegations [that you] documented, [which are] illustrated by uncorroborated witness testimony,” the Guinean government “has always opted for preventative over repressive measures in public order operations.”

The Ministry of Security and Civilian Protection, which oversees the police, did not respond to a March 25 letter from Human Rights Watch. The leadership of the police and gendarmes have previously said that the security forces are not permitted to carry firearms when responding to protests and blame demonstrators for the deaths, accusing opposition supporters of carrying guns.

Given the security forces’ blanket denial of responsibility for deaths during protests, the creation of a unit of judges focused on protest violence is important to shed light on the circumstances of the deaths of both demonstrators and law enforcement personnel, Human Rights Watch. An effective judicial unit would also need a dedicated a team of police and gendarmes, independent from the usual chain of command.

“Given Guinea’s uncertain political future, it’s highly likely there will be further clashes between the security forces and demonstrators,” said Dufka. “Dedicating a specialized team of judges and investigators to killings during protests would ensure that demonstrators and members of the security forces will be held accountable for their actions.”

Source:Human Rights Watch