HRD sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on appeal

Association

HRD Oumar Sylla sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on appeal

On 10^th June 2021, the Conakry Court of Appeal sentenced Front National de la Défense de la Constitution (FNDC) activist and deputy coordinator of the pro-democracy movement Tournons la Page Oumar Sylla, also known as Foniké Menguè, to three years in prison. As reported previously on the Monitor, Sylla was arrested on 29^th September 2020 while he was preparing to participate in a FNDC protest and was sentenced on 28^th January 2021 to a prison sentence of 11 months on charges of “criminal participation in a gathering likely to disturb public order”. On appeal, the HRD was sentenced for “communication and dissemination of false information, violence and threat of death”, the same charges that Sylla faced during a previous arrest in April 2020 but were dismissed by a judge in August 2020.

Expression

Journalists released from prison

On 19^th May 2021, journalist Amadou Diouldé Diallo was released from prison after a court in Conakry fined him five million Guinean francs (approximately 500 USD) for “insulting the Head of State”. As reported previously on the Monitor, Diouldé Diallo, a sports journalist who works for the public broadcaster Radio Télévision Guinéenne (RTG) and other media outlets, was arrested on 27^th February 2021 for comments he made about President Alpha Condé during his appearance on the radio programme ‘L’œil du Lynx’ on private radio station Lynx FM, and had been detained since, despite the prosecution only requesting a fine during a hearing on 13^th April 2021. Diouldé Diallo spent 81 days in prison.

A few days prior to Diouldé Diallo’s release from prison, on 11^th May 2021, sports journalist Ibrahima Sadio Bah was released after spending three months in prison. As reported previously on the Monitor, Bah was sentenced on 4^th February 2021 to a prison sentence of six months and a fine for “defamation, public insults and slanderous denunciation” of the president of the Guinean Football Federation (FEGUIFOOT), Mamadou Antonio Souaré.