On Wednesday, a Guinean appeals court maintained a two-year prison sentence against Aliou Bah, a leading opposition figure, for insulting General Mamadi Doumbouya, the country’s military leader, according to his legal team.
Bah, who heads the Liberal Democratic Movement (Model), has been in detention since December following his initial conviction in January. Despite prosecutors requesting a five-year sentence, the court upheld the original two-year term, said Bah’s lawyer, Hady Galissa. The appeal hearing began in March, during which Bah denied the charges.
The charges against Bah relate to comments he made at political rallies where he urged Guinean religious leaders to break their silence on the nation’s political crisis and called the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD), the military’s governing body, incompetent. These statements were deemed offensive toward General Doumbouya.
Journalists were prevented from entering the courtroom during the appeal, highlighting the restricted environment surrounding the case.
Bah’s defense described the ruling as unfair. Alseny Sall, head of the Guinean Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights (OGDH), criticized the verdict as a “triumph of arbitrariness over freedom,” reflecting broader concerns about shrinking political space in Guinea.
Fabien Offner from Amnesty International said the government is clearly determined to silence critics, especially those who hold it accountable to its promises.
Ibrahima Diallo, an opposition figure living in exile in Europe, said the sentence confirms the reasons many political and civil actors have left the country to avoid persecution under the current regime.
This ruling takes place amid escalating tensions marked by the disappearance of several regime opponents and increasing restrictions on civil liberties. General Mamadi Doumbouya seized power in September 2021, ousting President Alpha Conde, who had ruled Guinea for more than ten years. Despite initial promises of reform, political freedoms in the country remain severely constrained.