Guinea junta chief pardons former military leader over stadium massacre

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's junta leader has pardoned former military leader Moussa Dadis Camara for "health reasons" after a court last year found him guilty of crimes against humanity in a 2009 stadium massacre, according to a decree read on state television late on Friday.

Camara, who seized power in a 2008 coup, was on July 31, 2024, sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the massacre of at least 157 people during a pro-democracy rally in a stadium in the capital Conakry.

On September 28, 2009, tens of thousands of people had gathered to press Camara not to stand in a presidential election the following year. Many were shot, stabbed, beaten or crushed in a stampede as security forces fired teargas and charged the stadium.

At least a dozen women were raped by security forces, prosecutors said during the trial.

Camara, 61, was convicted alongside seven other military commanders.

The West African nation's current military government announced on Thursday that it would pay the compensation to victims that the court had ordered Camara and the other accused to cover.

That includes at least $2 million to rape victims and $18 million to the families of those killed or missing, according to Reuters calculations.

Junta leader Mamady Doumbouya himself seized power in a 2021 coup.

(Editing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)