Guinea Jails Former Constitutional Court President for Seven Years

The former president of Guinea‘s Constitutional Court was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday, one of nearly 200 officials from the country’s previous administration targeted by an anti-graft court.

A special court convicted Mohamed Lamine Bangoura of illicit enrichment, corruption, embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, all in connection with the management of money allocated to the Constitutional Court.

Bangoura is among approximately 180 high-ranking officials and former ministers from the administration of ex-president Alpha Condé (2010-2021) to be targeted in the proceedings since November 2022.

Conde was overthrown in a 2021 coup that brought to power Mamady Doumbouya, who ruled first as junta chief before being elected president late last year in a vote with no substantial opposition.

Shortly after the 2021 military coup, leaders set up a special court for financial crimes (CRIEF), which handed down Bangoura’s sentence Wednesday.

Bangoura was ordered to pay a fine of two billion Guinean francs ($225,000). The court also ordered the confiscation of his assets in Guinea and neighbouring Senegal.

Two co-defendants, each on the run, were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined five billion Guinean francs.

The three men together were also ordered to jointly pay 41 billion Guinean francs to the state.

Bangoura, who has been in detention since December 2022, contested the charges against him, and his defence team argued for acquittal.

Guinea’s opposition has denounced the suppression of freedoms and alleged the judicial system is being weaponised under Doumbouya.