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RECENT PRO BONO WORK:
HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION TO GUINEA
I could not help but feel somewhat nervous as I stepped out of the plane into the bright African sun. Soldiers and officials surrounded the plane and the first of three passport checks took place before passengers even set foot on the tarmac. The humidity was stifling. Guinea is a military dictatorship and is run by one of the most oppressive regimes in Africa. The country is among the poorest in the world. Large numbers of refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Sierra Leone have compounded problems in recent months. Fuel prices have rocketed, power cuts are a part of everyday life and all major cities are under a dawn to dusk curfew. Western diplomats in Conakry describe the country as a powder keg on the verge of civil war.
I flew to Guinea via Paris. The country’s only embassy in Europe is in the capital of its former colonial power. I had to obtain a visa and was told that there was no guarantee that one would be issued. Foreign journalists who wanted to cover the situation had been denied visas, including Le Monde and the BBC.
My experience at the Embassy in Paris was a foretaste of what I was to experience in the country itself. Located in the fashionable XVI Arrondissement, the Embassy building is dilapidated for the neighborhood. A sign states that official business is conducted from 10am. It was already 11:30 and the single counter was yet to open. There were between ten to fifteen people waiting – Africans dressed in bright colored clothes. I felt out of place in my business attire. It was a different world and yet the Paris street was only yards behind me.
I filled out a visa application form, explaining that I was acting as an official observer for the Geneva-based Inter Parliamentary Union, or "IPU". Towards the end of the afternoon, as I was beginning to think it would never happen, I was ushered into the office of the Ambassador. I explained that I was part of a team of three lawyers assigned by the IPU to observe the trial of Alpha Condé in Conakry. Since the trial was to last a month, my colleagues, Paris Avocat Simon Foreman, Hon. Paulette Ezouehou, an Appeals Court Judge from Senegal and I were to take turns in attending. I launched into an explanation that the IPU is an international organization whose membership includes the legislative bodies of over 140 countries around the world, including the US Congress, the British Parliament, the French Assemblé Nationale, as well as the Parliament of the Republic of Guinea.
The Ambassador nodded politely. He knew exactly who I was and why I was there. He was more than aware of the trial that had begun two weeks previously. I think everybody in Guinea was aware of the trial. The principal accused was Alpha Condé, a former professor of political science at the Sorbonne in Paris who returned to his native Guinea to enter politics. "Professeur Alpha", as he is popularly known, was elected a member of the national parliament shortly after his return. It is generally held that Alpha Condé will be the next President of Guinea and that it is only a matter of time before he takes office.
In 1998, bowing to international pressure, General Lansana Conté took steps to organize national presidential elections. Alpha Condé ran as candidate of the opposition Rassemblement du Peuple de la Guinée or "RPG". On December 15, 1998, the very day the election results were to be announced, Alpha Condé and approximately fifty of his followers were arrested and charged with crimes against the state, including planning to assassinate the president and to organize a rebellion. Western governments have stated that the charges were fabricated and that Condé’s arrest was simply due to the fact that he had won. When the results were announced hours later, General Lansana Conté was declared President. Alpha Condé was first held at a military base before being transferred to the Central Prison in Conakry, an aging structure in the center of town dating back to colonial times.
My visa was approved. On my way out of the Embassy, the clerk at the front desk ran after me and wished me luck. He told me that he hoped my trip would be successful. He said that he was an admirer and that he knew that Alpha was innocent.
There are only two "international" hotels in Conakry. A Meridien and a Sabena Hotel. Other than the aircrew from the four international flights a week, guests are primarily UN and other humanitarian workers transiting to refugee camps around the country. There are also the mineral prospectors. Money in Conakry comes from diamond, gold, uranium and other mineral concessions, jealously guarded by those "close" to General Lansana Conté.
Settling into my room, I read over the indictment. The charges against Condé and his followers potentially carried the death sentence. Mid way through the evening, there was an unexpected knock at the door to my room. A soft-spoken Frenchman introduced himself as Chargé d’Affaires at the French Embassy. At first I thought he was joking when he told me that my room was almost certainly bugged and that we should go for a walk in the grounds as it would be more "discreet". With a wry smile, he said that the during the cold war the government had been close to East Germany and that one of the things that they had learnt and continued to practice were communist bugging techniques. I was later to learn that his previous posting had been as military attaché at the French Embassy in Moscow. He came straight to the point. The Embassy would offer me all assistance, including a car and driver for the duration of my stay. France, he said, is a staunch supporter of democracy. He warned me not to openly criticize the government or even discuss the trial with anyone locally or on the phone from the hotel. Not that the telephone would be a problem, it would sometimes take up to half a day to get an international line. He told me that he would be present on my first day in Court.
I was the only foreign observer granted access to the trial. It took me a day to negotiate a laissez-passer, assisted by IPU contacts in the country’s National Assembly.
The trial took place in the Security Court, a structure in downtown Conakry right next to the Presidential Palace. The entire center of town had been closed for the trial. In order to reach the building, one had to pass through two roadblocks.
I was sat on a bench behind the accused. Soldiers and policemen sat either side of me, as well as in front of me. The temperature inside the courtroom must have been at least 90 degrees. The entire building was surrounded by soldiers, posted inside and outside, peering in through the windows brandishing their rifles. The only "public" present were military either in or out of uniform. My neighbor told me that he worked for the Presidential Guard. I may have guessed from his designer sunglasses. I was sweating just sitting still.
The witnesses put on by the prosecution provided monosyllabic answers to the questions they were asked. There was no cross-examination from the state appointed lawyers. Everyone played out his or her role. It simply didn’t matter what was said, what evidence was presented. Everyone present knew that the outcome of the trial did not depend on that. There were several television cameras in the room, recording the proceedings. A truck from the national television channel was parked outside. Rumor had it that the pictures were beamed directly to the Presidential Palace. Short excerpts were shown every evening on the national news. When I was there this essentially consisted of the prosecution’s diatribes.
Over the several days I attended, I was able to speak with the prosecutor, the state-appointed defense counsel, as well as briefly with the Court. The three judges were all appointed directly by the President. Their decision would be final and not subject to appeal.
During recesses I was able to lean forward and talk with the Accused. Alpha Condé thanked me for being there, saying how important it was for the world to know. He looked pale and had lost a great deal of weight compared to the photos I’d seen of him. I spoke to several of the co-accused, some of whom told me that they had been tortured so as to extract their "confessions" or to testify against Alpha Condé.
One afternoon during a recess as I waited in front of the courtroom with the French Chargé d’Affaires we were approached by a woman in her mid fifties who I had noticed sitting at the back of the room. The diplomat politely introduced me. As she moved away, he told me that she was the Head of the secret police and very close to the President. He said that she was there to make sure everything ran according to plan. That she was orchestrating the trial.
I collected as much information as possible. We were later to write up in our report the allegations of torture. We also concluded: 1) that the tribunal could not be said to be independent; 2) that no consideration was given to Alpha Condé’s parliamentary immunity; 3) that there was no public access to the trial; 4) that the accused for several weeks were held with no possible contact with the outside world and before being presented before a judge; 5) that their lawyers did not have access to the file until just before the trial opened; and 6) that there was no appeal possible.
We accused the Government of Guinea of breaching not only its own laws, but also the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the African Charter on Human Rights, both of which incidentally the country has ratified. Everybody has the right not to be arbitrarily arrested and held, the right to an equitable trial and not to be tortured.
The immigration officer checking my passport just before I got on the plane asked me: "Just between you and me, is Alpha guilty?" I don’t know how she knew what I’d been doing in the country. I knew not to ask, just as I knew not to reply.
Alpha Condé was sentenced to five years hard labor. Many of the co-accused received similar sentences, although some were released. Our report was unanimously adopted by the Human Rights Committee of the IPU that called upon the Government of Guinea to release him forthwith and conduct an immediate investigation into the allegations of torture.
I felt a very small cog in a large wheel. I felt privileged to have been confided in by so many people in Guinea. I admire their bravery and the risk that they took in just speaking to me. I am left with the words of one of the more cynical Western diplomats who told me that nothing in Guinea is straightforward. That I shouldn’t simply believe that Alpha Condé is good and that General Conté is bad, or that the country would be miraculously turned around if he were to come to power. The courtroom, the hotel, the secret police. It seemed a sideshow to the day to day struggle of life in the country.
Several months after he was sentenced and after numerous months in jail, Alpha Condé was unceremoniously released and allowed to return home. The country is still under the firm foot of military dictatorship. Recent reports from Guinea are that Alpha is weak after months in jail. He is keeping a low profile. There is no word on further elections.
General Lansana Conté President of the Republic of Guinea, Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces:
Professor Alpha Condé:
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Copyright © 1998-2002 James A. Tidmarsh |
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