[ad_1]
A Guinean judge on Wednesday sentenced two critics of President Alpha Condé to one year in prison for inciting an insurgency, amid rights groups fear a crackdown on the opposition.
Condé, 82, won a third presidential term in the poor West African country in a fiercely contested election on October 18.
He ran after pushing through a new constitution last March that allowed him to bypass the country’s two-term limit, sparking mass protests.
Dozens of people have been killed in protests, often in clashes with security forces.
On Wednesday, co-defendants Condé and Diabate were each sentenced to one year in prison for inciting insurgency.
Both are members of the FNDC opposition coalition which has led protests against Condé’s third term.
The two men were also fined the equivalent of 1,600 euros (nearly $ 2,000) each.
The prosecutor had initially pushed for five-year prison terms and heavier fines.
Hundreds of people were arrested during the electoral period in Guinea, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who also criticized the use of lethal force against protesters.
Amnesty researcher Fabien Offner was unsure of the exact number of arrests, but said the wave was “unprecedented” in the former French colony.
Police arrested Condé and Diabate in September, ahead of the elections, when political tensions were high.
A third man, Roger Bamba, who was arrested with them, died in pre-trial detention.
The Guinean government said Bamba died from an illness, but his family insisted he was poisoned and accused the government of committing a “state crime”.
A former opposition activist himself, Condé became Guinea’s first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015 and then again last year.
Critics accuse him of veering towards authoritarianism.
Source link
