Guinea, 2009: The September 28 Stadium Massacre and the Trial That Judged a Former President

On September 28, 2009, in Conakry, security forces of the Guinean junta opened fire on a peaceful opposition gathering held at the September 28 Stadium. The commission of inquiry mandated by the United Nations documented "at least 156 disappearances or deaths" and at least 109 women and girls as victims of sexual violence, concluding there was a strong presumption of crimes against humanity. Seventeen years later, this day remains one of the darkest in the history of independent Guinea—and one of the rare instances where an African court eventually convicted a former head of state on home soil.

A stadium bearing the name of a "no"

The location was not insignificant. The Conakry stadium, built in 1964, takes its name from September 28, 1958: on that day, Guineans voted overwhelmingly "no" in the referendum on the French Community, paving the way for independence proclaimed on October 2, 1958, the first of any French colony in sub-Saharan Africa. By choosing this date and this stadium, the "living forces" of the opposition intended to recall this historic refusal to oppose the announced candidacy of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who had come to power in a coup d'état in December 2008 following the death of Lansana Conté, and who had promised not to run in the 2010 presidential election.

The death tolls vary. The FIDH counted 157 dead, approximately 1,500 injured, 89 missing, and 109 women raped, figures cited by Jeune Afrique; the government at the time acknowledged only 57 deaths. UN investigators established that bodies had been buried in mass graves, making any definitive count impossible.

Thirteen years of waiting, then a historic verdict

The trial did not open until September 28, 2022, the thirteenth anniversary of the massacre, before a Guinean court. Eleven defendants appeared, and more than a hundred victims were heard. On July 31, 2024, the verdict was delivered: according to Human Rights Watch, Moussa Dadis Camara and Colonel Moussa Tiégboro Camara were sentenced to 20 years in prison, former aide-de-camp Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakité to 10 years, five other defendants to sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment, and four men were acquitted. Reparations ranging from 1 to 3 billion Guinean francs were awarded to the victims.

It was the first time a Guinean jurisdiction had tried crimes against humanity. Long demanded by victims' associations, this trial showed that an African judicial system could hold its own leaders accountable for their actions without waiting for a foreign tribunal.

A pardon that reopens the wound

What followed dampened this hope. On March 28, 2025, the Guinean presidency announced by decree that Head of State Mamadi Doumbouya was granting a pardon to Moussa Dadis Camara for "health reasons," even though he had appealed and was awaiting his appeal trial. The FIDH, the Guinean Organization for the Defense of Human Rights, and the Association of Victims of September 28 (Avipa) expressed their "profound indignation." For Drissa Traoré, Secretary General of the FIDH, this pardon "sends a disastrous signal." The families learned almost simultaneously of the inclusion of their reparations in the national budget and the release of the primary convict.

Key takeaways

September 28 is a dual date for Guinea: that of the "no" of 1958 which opened the path to independence, and that of the 2009 massacre. The 2022-2024 trial proved that an African justice system could convict the crimes of an African power; the 2025 pardon serves as a reminder that a conviction is only as valuable as its full enforcement.