A Guinean court has handed down a two-year prison sentence to opposition figure Aliou Bah for “insulting and defaming” General Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the ruling junta.
The verdict, delivered on Tuesday in Conakry’s administrative district of Kaloum, has sparked concerns about freedom under military rule, which has been in place since the 2021 coup that ousted former President Alpha Conde.
Bah, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Movement (MoDel), was accused of criticizing the junta’s National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD) as “incompetent” and urging Guinean religious leaders to speak out about the state of the nation.
His arrest in late December, while traveling to neighboring Sierra Leone, was followed by charges of defaming General Doumbouya.
Bah’s lawyers have vehemently opposed the ruling, describing the trial as an attack on freedom of expression and calling the allegations against him baseless.
The sentencing is part of a broader trend of repression under Doumbouya’s military rule, which has seen numerous opposition figures detained, exiled, or brought before the courts.
Criticism of the junta has mounted, with opposition groups accusing it of authoritarianism.
The disappearance of civil society leaders arrested in July and the unclear circumstances surrounding the deaths of a former army chief of staff, a former deputy junta leader, and a doctor have further fueled concerns about the junta’s human rights record.
