On the night of July 9, 2024, at around 10 p.m., Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah were abducted in Conakry by a group of armed men, some in Special Forces and National Gendarmerie (GIGN) uniforms. The third man abducted with them, Mohamed Cissé, was released the following day. Since then, he has been living in exile, fearing for his safety.
On July 17, 2024, the public prosecutor of the Conakry Court of Appeal issued a press release stating that no judicial authority had arrested them, and that an investigation had been opened. However, to date, no results of the investigation have been released. The families, lawyers and witnesses have never been contacted by the judicial authorities. There is a real fear that this investigation may never have been carried out. On November 28, 2024, Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, issued a communication calling on the Guinean authorities to provide information about the investigation. No reply was received.
More than a year after their disappearance, Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah remain unaccounted for.
ACAT-France calls on the Guinean authorities to guarantee the families of Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Bah the right to the truth. They must rapidly set up an independent inquiry, with an international component, to establish the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Bah, determine what happened to them, and prosecute those responsible for their enforced disappearance.
© DR/ Private photo
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