Guinea meddling: Lawyers quit
2009-10-30 11:19
Conakry - Lawyers representing former police and army officials accused of drug trafficking in Guinea on Thursday said they quit because of "intolerable meddling" by junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.
"So as not to give our support to a parody of justice... the collective of the accused's lawyers has decided to withdraw immediately from this case in which the die is already cast," the lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP in Dakar on Thursday.
The lawyers say Camara, who seized power in December last year, went to the justice ministry on Monday to discuss the case of the accused drug traffickers with judges involved in the case, including the investigating magistrate.
According to the lawyers the judges were "ordered to explain their rulings".
This is "grave and intolerable meddling by the executive power in the functioning of the judiciary", the lawyers said in their statement.
Judges under pressure
They argue that the judges have been put under pressure and can no longer give an impartial ruling.
Camara, who has come under increasing international pressure over the September 28 massacre of at least 150 opposition supporters by his security forces, has vowed to stamp out drugs trafficking.
"If I leave power today, the drugs will return to the country," he told AFP in an interview late September.
"If you have a man like me, who has banned drugs from the country, you should cherish him instead of speaking of democracy," he insisted.