French lawyers to the rescue of Guinea massacre victims

Prominent French rights lawyer Jacques Verges and several of his colleagues have accepted to follow up on the suit filed by the victims of the September 28 military repression in the Guinean capital, Conakry.

Last week, the victims of the bloody repression by the Guinean military junta sued the regime for crimes against humanity committed against innocent civilians during a political rally. An undisclosed number of women and girls were assaulted and raped, an estimated 150 killed and over 1,000 injured during the protest rally, which was organised by opposition political parties against the candidacy of junta leader, Moussa Dadis Camara.

“The legal suit aims to defend the victims of the abominable acts,” Mr Jean-Louis Camara, a Guinean lawyer and spokesperson of the victims, said. He told the international media in Conakry on Friday that the military junta was answerable to the complaint filed by the victims of the violent repression “because that is a crime against humanity.”

The spokesman said the group of victims had intended to make their appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, but rescinded on that decision when it realised that the court could do it on its own volition. “We are going to appeal to the African Heads of State to set up an African jurisdiction that is specifically tailored for rights violations committed against Africans,” he said.

On his part, French lawyer, Jacques Verges said: “Today, we are levelling accusations and we must do so fast.” He opined that the Guinean junta leader is also trying every way to exonerate himself. He said that Dadis Camara had declared two days of mourning in Guinea and has just set up an independent investigation commission.

Another Guinean lawyer, Jean Louis Keita, said the victims had opted to solicit the intervention of a continental or foreign jurisprudence out of the fear that the Guinean justice system would not deliver a fair judgement. On Wednesday, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi offered to intervene in the crisis, but was turned away by the junta and the international community, which insisted that similar efforts by the President of Burkina Faso were ongoing.

Meanwhile, relief aid organisations in neighbouring Senegal have started mobilising financial resources and relief materials in order to assist those injured during the tragedy. Organisers say the money and relief material collected will also be used for potential victims of the military regime in Guinea since “the country is still relatively unstable.”

In Conakry, United Nations agencies, the donor community as well as non governmental organisations are providing assistance, including food and drugs for use by patients still admitted to hospitals. Three weeks after the carnage, many Guinean families are still searching for missing family members while the military junta continues to carry out a campaign of “targeted assassinations” of youth leaders and members of the opposition and civil society organisations.