Guinea's ex-dictator Dadis Camara returned to prison: summary

FILE PHOTO: Guinea's former President Moussa Dadis Camara, who is accused of responsibility for the 2009 massacre and mass rape of pro-democracy protesters by forces linked to a former military junta, talks during his trial in Conakry, Guinea September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Souleymane Camara/File Photo

Source: X80002

What we know

Shortly after Guinea's long-term president Lansana Conté passed in 2008, Moussa Dadis Camara seized power putting the West African nation under a military junta
The military junta under Camara's leadership lasted for a year after which he was exiled to Burkina Faso in 2010
On September 27, 2022, the ex-dictator and 10 other former military officials were jailed after a trial into events that led to the killing of over 150 people during his military rule
In the early hours of Saturday, the minister of justice in Guinea announced that an armed group freed Camara and three others from jail in the West African nation's capital Conakry
Hours later through a press release the Chief of General Staff of the Guinea army announced that he had been recaptured

What they said

Guinea Minister of Justice, Charles Wright on a local radio station said, "There is no coup attempt, this is a case of escape." Camara's lawyer, Pepe Lamah in a social media post on Saturday also said, "It is unacceptable to call it an escape. Camara was kidnapped in the very early hours of this morning by heavily armed individuals who forced him into a vehicle to an unknown destination. It is, however, the duty of the state to ensure the safety of its prisoners."

Camara's lawyer in a post on Facebook addressing the escape attempt

Edward Sakyi