A first group of several dozen opponents of ousted Guinean President Alpha Condé, detained in the civil prison in Conakry, began to be released Tuesday evening, September 7, AFP correspondents noted.
Read also Guinea reenacts the great classic of the military coup
A correspondent saw about twenty of them leave the prison, including the opponents Abdoulaye Bah and Etienne Soropogui, arrested in 2020 during the contesting of the re-election of Alpha Condé for a third term, or the vice-president. Mayor of Matam, one of the communes of Conakry, Ismaël Condé.
Speed up the release of "political detainees"
The latter, a defector from the ruling party, joined the opposition when the Head of State undertook to pass a new Constitution and used this change in fundamental law as an argument to run for a third term.
Prosecuted for posting comments on Facebook suggesting that only weapons could make Alpha Condé leave, he was sentenced in July to three years and four months in prison.
Read also Guinea: who is Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, the country's new strong man?
The soldiers who overthrew Alpha Condé on Sunday pledged to speed up the release of "
political detainees
" from his regime.
These releases took place under the supervision of Colonels Balla Samoura and Moussa Tiegboro Camara, both members of the new junta, according to the same sources.
In total, a list of 79 detainees released was approved following consultations between the new authorities, the prison administration and the detainees' lawyers, we learned from the latter. The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), a coalition of political movements and civil society which led the protest against the third term, initially hoped on Monday for the release of its imprisoned members.