Guinea: The resumption of arbitrary arrests

We were dismayed to learn about the abduction on the night of 9-10 July 2024 of Mamadou Billo Bah, the Coordinator of TLP-Guinea and head of the branches and the mobilisation of the “Front National pour la Défénse de la Constitution” (FNDC), and Oumar Sylla, known as "Foniké Menguè", the National Coordinator of the FNDC. Both were arrested at their home in Conakry by armed soldiers wearing balaclavas, with some among them wearing civilian clothes.

We note that this abduction has no legal basis and that their detention at the headquarters of the Police’s Judicial Investigations Department is unjustified, given that to date, they have still not been informed of the charges against them and have not had access to their lawyers. We therefore demand their immediate and unconditional release.

This is not the first time that the transitional authorities have carried out arbitrary arrests. Many human rights defenders and members of the FNDC Guinée are regularly victims. Mamadou Billo Bah and Oumar Sylla have already been detained for 4 and 10 months respectively since the coup d'État in September 2021, and were finally released and acquitted in May 2023. The resumption of arrests is worrying and comes at a time when civil society organisations are campaigning for the restoration of unjustly withdrawn media channels and to denounce the excessive nature of the military transition.

The signatory organisations also call upon the authorities to cease their attacks on human rights defenders and to guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in the country, in accordance with the fundamental texts and international commitments adopted by Guinea.

Signatories:

1. ACAT-France
2. ActionAid France
3. AfricanDefenders
4. Agir ensemble pour les droits humains
5. Avocats Sans Frontières Belgique
6. Attac France
7. Coalition Sénégalaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (COSEDDH)
8. Coalition Togolaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CTDDH)
9. CRID
10. Fédération Internationale pour les Droits Humains (FIDH), dans le cadre de l’Observatoire pour la Protection des Défenseurs des Droits Humains
11. Front Line Defenders
12. Institut des Médias pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l'Homme (IM2DH)
13. Internet Sans Frontières (ISF)
14. Justice et Paix France
15. Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT), dans le cadre de l’Observatoire pour la Protection des Défenseurs des Droits Humains
16. Réseau Nigerien des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (RNDDH)
17. Tournons La Page (TLP)
18. Y'en a marre