Guinea: Activist sentenced to 3 years imprisonment
On 17 April 2020, Oumar Sylla was arrested in front of his house in Conakry, Guinea’s capital. Prior to his arrest, Oumar Sylla participated by phone in the show "Grande Gueule" on Espace FM radio station. During his interview, he called on members of the FNDC to prepare for the resumption of demonstrations against the government’s plans for constitutional change, which would change presidential term limits and allow President Alpha Condé to run for a third term in office. He also denounced the killings, torture, arbitrary detention and harassment of FNDC members.
During the first day of trial, on 6 August 2020, the Prosecutor warned of the ‘‘serious risk for public order to release Oumar Sylla’’. On 27 August 2020, he was released after the judged dismissed all charges against him.
Oumar Sylla was re-arrested on 29 September 2020 while mobilizing against President Alpha Condé's candidacy for the October 2020 presidential election. Following the presidential election, protests - some of which were violent - erupted to contest the results. Security forces responded to the protests by using excessive force when carrying out operations in some neighbourhoods which resulted in deaths. According to Amnesty International, at least 16 people were shot dead between 18 and 24 October 2020.
On 31 October 2020, the General prosecutor of Conakry’s Court of Appeal announced that 325 people had been arrested during the post-election protests where violence ensued. On 10 November 2020, the Dixinn district prosecutor announced that 78 people had been brought before a judge and several others were wanted.
On 25 December 2020, Oumar Sylla started a hunger strike as protest of his case not having been scheduled for trial even though the investigation was completed two months before. He ended his strike on 8 January 2021, after his trial was scheduled.
Between December 2020 and January 2021, Amnesty International documented and reported on the deaths of four people while in pretrial detention in Conakry central prison.
On 7 May 2021, the government spokesperson announced the release of 40 detainees following the dismissal of all charges against them. 57 people are still detained and charged for "attacking the institutions of the republic", "disturbing the state through devastation and looting", "participation in an insurrectionary movement", "threat of violence or death through an information system" , and “production, dissemination and other provision of data likely to disturb public order or public security”. Among them, there are four leaders of the opposition party, Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea: Ousmane "Gaoual" Diallo, Mamadou Cellou Balde, Ibrahima Chérif Bah, Amadou Djoulé Diallo, and the leader of the political movement “Nos valeurs communes”, Etienne Soropogui.