Amnesty Int'l warns of human rights abuses in Guinea

Amnesty International’s Guinean office is sounding the alarm on human rights abuses in the country ahead of its 2020 elections.

In a recently published report, it expressed deep concerns at the deaths caused by violent repression on protesters dating back to 2015.

“Between January 2015 and October 2019, we counted more than 70 people who died in demonstrations. That is according to testimonies we have received and the rounds we found on the scene. The security forces are involved in at least 59 of these deaths. This is a very significant number, even though we acknowledge that demonstrations in Guinea can sometimes turn violent”, François Patuel, West Africa researcher at Amnesty International said.

Samira Daoud is Deputy Director for Amnesty International West Africa.

“What we are asking the authorities to do is to allow people to exercise the right of freedom to protest, and for them to stop systematically banning demonstrations.’‘

Recent demonstrations against a possible third term for President Alpha Condé had triggered a wave of deadly violence in this West African country of about 13 million people.