Trial of September 28 in Guinea: Colonel Blaise Goumou keeps his line of defense
General view showing the interior of the new courthouse in Conakry on September 28, 2022 during the opening of the trial of the massacres of September 28, 2009. AFP - CELLOU BINANI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Guinea, on February 1, 2023, Colonel Blaise Goumou was called to the bar for the fifth time in the trial of the massacres of September 28, 2009, which left more than 150 dead in Conakry.
He was "
precise, clear and consistent
" in his answers, according to one of his lawyers.
While for one of the lawyers for the civil party, the one who was a gendarmerie officer and former military prosecutor at the material time multiplied the “
untruths
”.
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With our correspondent in Conakry,
Mouctar Bah
In
Guinea
, the trial of the massacres of September 28, 2009 in Conakry continues.
Massacres that left more than 150 dead, a hundred women raped and dozens missing.
Colonel Blaise Goumou, gendarmerie officer and former military prosecutor at the material time, was again invited to the bar on February 1, 2023.
Suit and tie, Colonel Blaise Goumou, straight in his boots, first answered the questions of the lawyers of the civil parties, of those who defend Toumba Diakité (another defendant), before facing his own lawyers who believe that their client defends himself well.
“
He does not wander
”
“
He is precise, clear and consistent in the answers he gives to the questions that are asked of him
,” says Maître Pépé Antoine Lamah.
He does not digress, he says things as he experienced them, without distorting them
”.
Blaise Goumou has however, according to observers, been put in difficulty by the public prosecutor and the civil parties.
“
What interests me are the facts
,” retorts Pépé Lamah.
Have the facts articulated against Colonel Blaise Goumou been proven at the bar of this court?
We are in criminal court.
We are in the judgment phase.
Here, it is the evidence that speaks
”.
► To read also: Trial of September 28 in Guinea: Colonel Goumou claims to have played no role
For the lawyers of the civil parties, on the other hand, the defendant Goumou only tells untruths.
This is what Maître Alpha Amadou DS Bah maintains: “
We have seen an accused who speaks discourteously towards the lawyers, who is in systematic denial and above all the attempt to protect Moussa Dadis Camara (
the former head of the junta at the time of the events, Editor's note
) and his clan.
All his statements on the stand are untruths.
We have no doubts about his participation in the September 28 stadium.
»
Before this Wednesday's session was adjourned, Colonel Blaise Goumou, who has been appearing for a week, questioned the report of the international commission of inquiry which puts him in question.
►
To listen also: Trial of September 28, 2009 in Guinea: "There was no political will for the truth to be known"
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