A criminal court in Guinea has acquitted gendarmerie officer Colonel Bienvenu Lamah of crimes against humanity and command responsibility in the landmark trial over the September 28, 2009 stadium massacre.
The Dixinn Criminal Court, sitting at the Conakry Court of Appeal, ruled that Lamah was not guilty of the charges and ordered his immediate release, while declaring the prosecution’s request to reclassify the charges as moot.
The court also recognized the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Guinean Organization for the Defense of Human Rights as civil parties in the case.
Colonel Lamah had been accused of involvement in the violent crackdown on an opposition rally at Conakry’s stadium on September 28, 2009, where security forces were accused of killing, injuring and sexually assaulting protesters. The verdict forms part of Guinea’s historic trial into one of the country’s deadliest episodes of political violence.
