CASE N° GUI/04 - ALPHA CONDÉ - GUINEA

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 167th session (Jakarta, 21 October 2000)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Referring to the outline of the case of Mr. Alpha Condé, a member of the National Assembly of Guinea and candidate in the 1998 presidential election, and President of the opposition Rassemblement du Peuple de Guinée (RPG), as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/167/12(c)­R.1), and to the relevant resolution adopted at its 166th session (May 2000),

Taking account of the report of the trial observers who followed the proceedings in Mr. Condé's case at the request of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians,

Recalling that Mr. Alpha Condé, a candidate in the presidential elections of December 1998, was arrested on 15 December 1998, prior to the announcement of the provisional election results, presumably in flagrante delicto and hence without any previous lifting of his parliamentary immunity, for “attempting to leave the country clandestinely” and “deliberately assaulting and injuring an officer of the law”; he was charged in January 1999 with “attempt to cross borders, fraudulent export of foreign currency, attempt to recruit mercenaries and breach of State security”,

Recalling furthermore that the Committee's mission to Conakry of January 2000 noted serious irregularities in the judicial procedure used in this case,

Considering that his trial opened on 12 April 2000 and ended on 11 September 2000, when he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on being found guilty of all the charges against him,

Considering that the on-site observers mandated by the Committee had not the slightest doubt in considering that the sentence was the outcome of proceedings which had patently failed to respect the standards of fair trial as defined in national standards and in international treaties ratified by Guinea,

Noting in particular that several of the defendants stated during the debates that they had been tortured, either to extort confessions or to oblige them to testify against Alpha Condé and so strengthen the prosecution's case; their testimony was invoked against Alpha Condé while at the same its lack of reliability was invoked to acquit other defendants,

Bearing in mind that the Republic of Guinea is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which guarantee the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to freedom from torture and ill-treatment, and the right to fair trial,

1. Commends the trial observers on their report, and fully endorses its conclusions;
2. Calls therefore on the authorities to release Mr. Condé and his co-defendants immediately and unconditionally;
3. Urges the authorities to launch investigations without further delay into the reliable allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to bring to justice, as their duty commands, those responsible for such abhorrent criminal acts proscribed under national and international law;
4. Also urges the authorities to take the necessary measures to ensure that any court operating in Guinean territory offers the necessary guarantees of independence and impartiality, even when trying crimes and offences against State security;
5. Requests the Secretary General to convey this decision to the competent authorities and the sources;
6. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session (April 2001).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 104th Conference and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 457K). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.