Recommendations

To the Guinean Government, Particularly the President and Justice Minister

• Reaffirm respect for the independent investigation of the perpetrators of crimes committed during the September 28 violence and its aftermath, leading to credible prosecution within a reasonable time frame.
• Ensure adequate supplies, equipment, and transport assistance to the panel of judges investigating the September 28, 2009 massacre, rapes, and other abuses.
• Ensure the judges have adequate security at their office and additional security during non-business hours as needed.
• Place on administrative leave those in government positions who have been identified as implicated in crimes committed during the September 28 violence and its aftermath, and are in a position to influence or appear to influence any criminal investigation and prosecution, pending a final prosecution or conclusion of the investigation.
• Redouble efforts to secure an affirmative answer to the international rogatory commission submitted to Burkina Faso to interview former President Dadis Camara.
• Discuss with the European Union, Economic Community of West African States, United States, France, Germany, United Nations Development Program, and UN Peacebuilding Fund assistance that may be available to support justice for the September 28 crimes, such as regarding a witness and victim protection and support scheme, forensic investigation and expertise, training for practitioners on serious crimes, international security assistance, law reform, defense representation, and outreach and public information to the local population.
• Avail Guinea of international expertise to support investigation of the September 28 crimes.
• Support abolition of the death penalty and adoption of legislation to implement the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute and the Convention against Torture domestically.
• Ensure the prompt establishment and independence from government control and direction of the Conseil supérieur de la magistrature tasked with the discipline, selection, and promotion of judges.

To the Procureur de la République and Procureur Général

• Encourage compliance by the judicial police with any and all requests by the panel of judges, including to access an identified possible mass grave and to question individuals in the surrounding area.
• Ensure the judges are able to work exclusively on the September 28 investigation.

To the Panel of Investigative Judges

• Move swiftly to address illegal pre-trial detention of suspects, including ensuring all detainees appear promptly before a judge, and are informed of criminal charges against them.
• Question key suspects of the September 28, 2009 massacre, rapes, and other abuses.
• Question witnesses, including members of the security services, who are neither suspects nor victims.
• Access potential mass graves and interview individuals in the surrounding areas.
• Ensure all suspects have access to legal representation, regardless of whether they have the means for such representation.
• Withhold identifying information for witnesses and victims who may be at risk from the investigation dossier until such information becomes necessary to enable accused and their lawyers to adequately prepare their defense.

To the Government of Burkina Faso

• Affirmatively respond to the international rogatory commission submitted by Guinea to Burkina Faso to interview former President Dadis Camara in relation to the investigation of crimes committed during the September 28, 2009 violence and its aftermath.

To United Nations, Intergovernmental, and Government Partners

(including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund and Development Program, the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the United States, France, Germany, and the Peacebuilding Commission)

• Intensify communication with Guinean officials and issue public statements regarding the importance of fair, independent investigation and prosecution of the September 28 massacre, rapes, and other abuses.
• Call for and actively discuss with Guinean officials—particularly the president and the justice minister—the need to ensure the investigative panel can work effectively, including by having adequate resources and security for the judges, facilitating the appointment of relevant international experts to support the investigation, placing key suspects on leave from government posts, and securing a satisfactory response to the judges’ request to question former President Dadis Camara.
• Call for the procureur de la république and procureur général to ensure the judges are able to work exclusively on the September 28 investigation and the judicial police comply with any and all requests by the panel of judges, including to access an identified possible mass grave, and to question individuals in the surrounding area.
• Call for the Guinean government and parliament, once elected, to abolish the death penalty and enact legislation to implement the ICC’s Rome Statute and the Convention against Torture domestically.
• Discuss with Guinean officials international assistance that could be made available to support accountability for the September 28, 2009 crimes and invite relevant requests for assistance from the Guinean government in areas such as a protection and support scheme for witnesses and victims acting as partie civile; forensic investigation of mass graves and relevant expertise; training for relevant practitioners in investigating, prosecuting, and defending cases involving serious crimes; and law reform to abolish the death penalty, and implement the ICC’s Rome Statute and the Convention against Torture domestically. As proceedings advance, discuss possible needed support for adequate defense representation to suspects of the September 28 crimes and outreach and public information to the local population on the process.
• Increase coordination among international partners to press for and support accountability for the September 28 crimes.

To the International Criminal Court Prosecutor

• Continue to press for fair, credible prosecutions for those implicated in serious crimes committed during the September 28 violence and its aftermath, including through regular visits and comments to the media about the investigation’s progress.
• Continue to call for Guinean officials—particularly the president and the justice minister—to ensure the investigative panel can work effectively, including by having adequate resources and security for the judges, facilitating the appointment of relevant international experts to support the investigation, placing key suspects on leave from government posts, and securing a satisfactory response to the judges’ request to question former President Dadis Camara.
• Call for the procureur de la république and procureur général to ensure the judges are able to work exclusively on the September 28 investigation and the judicial police comply with any and all requests by the panel of judges, including to access an identified possible mass grave, and to question individuals in the surrounding area.
• Discuss with Guinean officials international assistance that may be available to assist accountability efforts and identify areas where ICC officials may have practical expertise to share, such as with regard to witness protection.
• Intensify communication with Guinean civil society to ensure they have accurate expectations concerning the timing of the ICC prosecutor potentially seeking to open an investigation into the September 28 crimes.

To the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Office’s Team of Experts for Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conflict

• Continue to call publicly for accountability for the September 28 crimes.
• Continue to work with Guinean officials to ensure the effective deployment of an expert to support the investigation of sexual crimes committed on September 28, 2009 and during its aftermath, including in investigative methods, case management, victim and witness protection, civil society interaction, and public information.