Tournons La Page Guinée
Sékou KOUNDOUNO
Arrested on March 6, 2020 Released on March 13, 2020
On 6 March 2020, Mr Ibrahima Diallo, coordinator of Tournons la page (TLP) in Guinea and head of operations for the Front national pour la défense de la Constitution (FNDC), and Mr Sékou Koundouno, coordinator of Balai citoyen Guinée and head of planning for the FNDC, were arrested at their home in Conakry by agents of the security forces wearing balaclavas, before being taken to the Direction générale de la police judiciaire in Conakry. The two defenders only had access to their lawyers after 48 hours in pre-trial detention, and were therefore heard on police premises in the absence of their lawyers. On 9 March 2020, Ibrahima Diallo and Sékou Koundouno were brought before the Dixinn commune court and charged by an examining magistrate with ‘insulting an official’, ‘violence and assault’ (article 658 et seq. of the Criminal Code) and ‘producing, distributing and making available to others data likely to disturb public security or undermine human dignity’ (articles 31, 32 et seq. of Law 037 on cyber-security). On 12 March 2020, the First Examining Chamber of the Conakry Court of Appeal ordered the acquittal and release of Ibrahima Diallo and Sékou Koundouno, overturning the decision of the investigating judge of the 6th Chambers of the Mafanco Court of First Instance. The two defenders were effectively released the following day, 13 March 2020, but remain under judicial supervision: they must report once a week to the office of the investigating judge in charge of the case. Shortly before their arrest, Ibrahima Diallo and Sékou Koundouno had held a press conference in Conakry to denounce the arbitrary arrests to which members of the FNDC have been subjected since October 2019.