Guinean journalist fined for ‘insulting’ president

Conakry (AFP/APP): A court in Guinean capital Conakry fined a prominent journalist the equivalent of 420 euros ($515) Wednesday for “insulting” President Alpha Conde, as he was freed after serving three months in jail.

Well-known sports commentator and historian Amadou Dioulde Diallo is one among hundreds of people arrested or tried in recent months over their opposition to Conde.

An October election in which the president secured a third mandate was marred by violence that killed dozens, as security forces cracked down on protests against what many saw as an unconstitutional move.

Diallo’s arrest in late February came after he claimed in a radio broadcast that Conde’s “only aim” was to “exterminate Guinea’s Fulani people” — an ethnic group believed to largely support the opposition.

Such political affiliations along ethnic lines are a sore spot in Guinean politics, which is frequently a pretext for violence.

At the hearing where he was fined five million Guinean francs, the journalist said he was a whistleblower.

“I’m happy to have been in prison. It’s a school of life that you won’t get anywhere else,” he added.

His lawyer Mohamed Traore said he was “pleased” his client was liberated, but added that “Amadou Dioulde Diallo shouldn’t have spent a single night in prison”.

Such detentions had become “commonplace” in Guinea, Traore said.

Hundreds of people were arrested during the anti-Conde protests around and after the election, human rights defenders say.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) highlighted in a statement that Guinea had in 2010 done away with jail time for press infractions.

“The Guinean authorities must stop detaining journalists arbitrarily,” RSF said.

European Parliament members have also recently complained of “impunity” for rights violations in Guinea in a letter to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell seen by AFP.

Borrell expressed “concern” at the “critical” human rights situation there in his reply, also seen by AFP.

Five people implicated in the 2009 massacre of at least 157 people in a Conakry stadium are under EU sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, and the MEPs have a list of further prospective targets.

The Guinean government has insisted that it respects human rights and complained of critics’ “confrontational approach”.