Toumba Diakité, principal figure in 2009 massacre in Guinea, has died

One of the principal figures convicted in an infamous 2009 stadium massacre in Guinea died in custody Wednesday in the capital Conakry, the west African country's prison service said.

Aboubakar Sidiki Diakité, known as Toumba Diakité, was serving a 10-year sentence for his role in the September 2009 killing of 156 people and the rape of at least 109 women by pro-junta forces under then-dictator Moussa Dadis Camara.

He is at least the second person convicted in connection with the massacre to have died in custody following that of Colonel Claude Pivi in January.

Pivi was a former colonel and minister in charge of security under Camara.

Diakité, an aide de camp to Camara, was serving as commander of the presidential guard at the time of the massacre.

Now in his 50s, Diakité "was pronounced dead" Wednesday at 04h35 (local and GMT) at a Conakry military hospital, the prison service said in a statement. The September 2009 massacre and rapes took place during and after a political rally attended by opposition supporters in a Conakry stadium, in one of the darkest chapters in Guinean history.

A ten-year prison sentence set to expire in 2027

Authorities transferred Diakité from Conakry central prison to Coyah prison, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital, in February after reporting that he displayed "an aggressive attitude", refused to submit to a search and made threats against security officers during a surprise security check.

Diakité was arrested in Dakar in 2016 and extradited to Guinea in 2017, with his 10-year sentence set to expire next year. In December 2009 he tried to murder Camara, accusing the dictator of wanting him to bear sole responsibility for the massacre.

Camara was eventually found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years, but was later pardoned by Guinea's current leader, Mamady Doumbouya.

Doumbouya came to power in a 2021 coup and was elected president last December in a vote that excluded all major opposition leaders. Since independence from France in 1958, Guinea has had a complex history of military and authoritarian rule.

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