Return to prison for Moussa Dadis Camara. Released from prison on Saturday morning by a heavily armed commando, the former dictator was recaptured and put back behind bars, the army and his lawyer said. “Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was found safe and sound and taken back to prison,” confirmed to AFP the director of information for the armed forces (Dirpa) Ansouma Toumany Camara, without specifying the circumstances of the capture. One of the former president’s lawyers (2008-2009), Jocamey Haba, confirmed in a brief exchange with AFP that his client was back in cell.
And it’s not just any customer. Dadis Camara is the former head of the military junta. In power between 2008 and 2010, before being the victim of an assassination attempt, the dictator spent twelve years in exile in Morocco and Bukina Faso. Authorized to return to Guinea after a new military coup in 2021, he has been on trial there for several months for his responsibility in the massacres of September 28, 2009, when the army fired on demonstrators. Dadis Camara has denied his responsibility outright since the first day of the trial, in September 2022, citing a “plot” targeting him.
“He has confidence in the justice of his country”
At least two other former officials currently on trial like Captain Camara have also been taken from prison, and only Colonel Claude Pivi remains untraceable. A group of masked and heavily armed soldiers arrived around 4 a.m. in front of the prison and forced access to it, said a judicial source on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject. They declared “that they had come to free Captain Dadis Camara,” she said.
Inside, the attackers, who appeared to know the location, headed towards the captain’s cell and took him and other detainees to an unknown destination, she added. “I still think he was kidnapped. He has confidence in the justice of his country, which is why he will never try to escape,” the ex-dictator’s lawyer declared this morning.
The operation woke up the Guinean capital, whose access to the city center was blocked by security forces all morning. “There is automatic and war weapon fire in the political-administrative district of Kaloum,” said a resident of the area, speaking on condition of anonymity for his safety. “The city center has been blocked since dawn, no entry or exit,” said a trader, also on condition of anonymity. Several witnesses reported that the streets were deserted and that armored vehicles had been deployed.