Conakry, Guinea (AFP) – A Guinean public prosecutor on Friday announced the opening of a probe into the arrest of a journalist critical of the ruling junta, saying it had been carried out “without orders from the established authorities”.
A Guinean public prosecutor on Friday announced the opening of a probe into the arrest of a journalist critical of the ruling junta, saying it had been carried out “without orders from the established authorities”.
Habib Marouane Camara, who runs the Lerevelateur224 site, was arrested by uniformed men on Tuesday in Lambanyi, in the suburbs of the capital Conakry, his lawyers and a press union said.
Colleagues condemned his arrest as the latest in a long series of crackdowns on freedom of expression by the ruling junta, who seized power in a 2021 coup.
The public prosecutor’s office for Dixinn, in the Conakry region, said it had found out through the press that Camara had been arrested “by individuals allegedly wearing police or military uniforms”.
In a statement, it said the arrest had been “carried out without orders from the established authorities and outside the cases provided for by the law”.
It “led the public prosecutor’s office to request the central directorate of the judicial police (DCPJ) to carry out a full and detailed investigation into the facts of the arbitrary arrest and confinement”, the statement added.
It said the investigation was under way and that the results would be made public.
Camara was on his way to a meeting with a Guinean businessman when a pick-up belonging to the security forces overtook his vehicle, the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea (SPPG) said.
“His assailants smashed the windscreen of his car before forcibly removing him for an unknown destination,” the union added, denouncing the arrest as a “kidnapping”.
Since the junta took power, many opposition figures have been detained, brought before the courts or forced into exile.
Two prominent anti-junta activists have been missing since being detained by security forces in July.
Two former high-ranking officers and a doctor have died in unclear circumstances in recent months after having been arrested.
Under international pressure, the junta pledged to hand power back to a civilian government by the end of 2024, but has since made clear it will not.
© Agence France-Presse
