GENEVA, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A group of United Nations experts have written to Guinea’s ruling junta to raise concerns about the alleged enforced disappearance of three human rights defenders, two of whom remain missing.
Three UN special rapporteurs — on torture, on freedom of association, and on human rights defenders — and the UN working group on enforced disappearances, said their joint letter had gone unanswered.
The experts raised concerns about “allegations of the abduction, enforced disappearance, and torture of human rights defender Abdoul Sacko, as well as the prolonged enforced disappearance of human rights defenders Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah”.
If the allegations were confirmed, the letter said, Guinea’s government “would have seriously violated fundamental human rights and its commitments under international human rights law”.
The letter, written in April, was made public this week after 60 days without response.
A well-known critic of Guinea’s military rulers, Sacko was abducted in February by masked assailants who broke into his home through the ceiling, sparking an outcry across Guinea.
He was discovered “tortured” and in a “critical state”, his lawyers said the following day.
Sacko’s Forum of Active Forces movement, which calls for the return of civilian rule in Guinea, denounced his disappearance as a “kidnapping” and pointed the finger at the ruling junta.
“The Guinean authorities have reportedly taken no measures to protect Mr. Sacko, nor have they opened an investigation into the circumstances of his abduction and the allegations of torture,” the experts’ letter said.
Bah, and Sylla, also known as Fonike Mengue — two opposition figures who have urged a return to a civilian-led government — have been missing in the impoverished west African nation since last July.
“The fate and whereabouts of Mr Sylla and Mr Bah remain unknown,” the experts said.
The experts said they were concerned that the enforced disappearances “appear to illustrate a pattern… aimed at silencing members of civil society, the political opposition, and dissent”, and deterring people from “speaking out, demonstrating peacefully, assembling, and participating in public and political life in Guinea”.
The experts sought details on any investigations into the allegations, information on the fate and whereabouts of Sylla and Bah, and the factual and legal reasons for their detention, if they have been deprived of their liberty.
They urged Guinea’s authorities to prevent “any irreparable harm” to the lives of Sacko, Sylla and Bah and to initiate investigations into the alleged violations and “bring those responsible to justice”.
Since taking power in a 2021 coup, Guinea’s army junta has been accused of cracking down on the opposition while silencing dissenting voices.
Guinea is currently ruled by junta leader General Mamady Doumbouya.
The junta has routinely banned protests calling for the military to step down and has shut down several news outlets. — NNN-AGENCIES
