Guinea: Convicted Former Guinean Official Dies in Prison

Justice Stalled in 2009 Stadium Massacre Proceedings

Col. Claude Pivi, Guinea's former minister for presidential security and one of the men convicted in a landmark trial for rapes and killings committed in Guinea in 2009, reportedly died in custody in a hospital on January 6, 2026, of natural causes.

On July 31, 2024, a Guinean court issued a verdict for the September 28, 2009 massacre, in which security forces attacked peaceful demonstrators at a stadium in the country's capital Conakry, killing 150 people and raping scores of women. The judges convicted Guinea's former self-declared president Moussa Dadis Camara, and seven others, including Pivi, of crimes against humanity with sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison.

Following Pivi's death last week, as well as current president Mamady Doumbouya's decision to pardon and release Dadis Camara from prison in March 2025, five men convicted for their role in the massacre remain in custody today. Camara's pardon is incompatible with Guinea's obligations under international law and could amount to a violation of the right of victims to an effective remedy.

Victims of the September 28 crimes and the remaining convicted men await what are now long-delayed appeal hearings, as well as progress on reparations.

There has been some movement, however, in separate legal proceedings against additional suspects in the September 28 massacre. On December 18, 2025, a new trial began of seven defendants, in which four appeared before court, including Col. Bienvenue Lamah, former regional director of the Conakry gendarmerie. The three other defendants remain at large.

Mamady Doumbouya was formally elected president in December 2025. It was Guinea's first presidential election since Doumbouya took power in a 2021 coup. Although human rights conditions have declined under Doumbouya's rule, his new government should break with its past.

Doumbouya should commit to advancing unfinished accountability measures for the September 28 crimes and lay the groundwork for credible and fair justice for other rights abuses in Guinea.

Tamara Aburamadan, Counsel, International Justice Program

Read the original article on HRW.