Guinea jails opposition figure for 'insurrection'

A Guinean court on Monday jailed a doctor and leader of an aid group for a year for crimes including calling for insurrection, after he campaigned against President Alpha Conde's standing for a third term in 2020.

Arrested in November a few weeks after Conde's fiercely opposed reelection, Mamady Onivogui leads the Sante Vie pour Tous (Health and Life for All) group in southeastern city Macenta, as well as being the local representative for opposition movement Elazologa (That Won't Work).

A court on the outskirts of capital Conakry found him guilty Monday of inciting violence and insurrection, threats and offending the head of state.

The judge gave Onivogui a one-year sentence and fined him 30 million Guinean francs (2,500 euros, $3,000).

At his trial late last month, prosecutors claimed he "used offensive words tending to disturb public order and tarnish the president's honour", calling for a 10-year sentence and a fine triple the final amount.

"I have never used offensive language about anyone at all," Onivogui retorted, while his lawyer Salifou Beavogui said he would appeal.

"My husband fights every day for our city to have power, water and classrooms. I know that it's in part because of that that people in high places wish him harm," Onivogui's wife Mamadama Sylla told AFP.

Alpha Conde's bid for a third term was met with months of demonstrations by both the political opposition and civil society groups, which the government countered with sometimes brutal force, and dozens of people died after the protests began in October 2019.

Conde, 83, was nevertheless reelected in the first round.

Since then, aid groups like Amnesty International have accused the government of carrying out a wave of arrests and of responsibility for the deaths of people in custody, allegations the government denies.