MIILTARY PRISONERS MOVED TO KASSA ISLAND

C O N F I D E N T I A L CONAKRY 000450

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D COPY - ADDING CLASS MARKING PARA 1

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC GV
SUBJECT: MIILTARY PRISONERS MOVED TO KASSA ISLAND

Classified By: POLOFF JULIA TULLY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)

MILITARY PRISONERS MOVED TO KASSA ISLAND


1. (C) SUMMARY. Over the August 1-2 weekend, a group of military
officers who were reportedly being held without charges at
Camp Alpha Yaya since early January, were transferred to the
military prison on Kassa Island. Family members and local
media confirmed the transfer. The move is most likely
life-threatening as access to this prison is denied and
prisoners are rarely released from the island. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Embassy sources and local media have confirmed that 12
military officers who had been held in Camp Alpha Yaya since
early January, were transferred to the military prison on
Kassa Island just off the coast near Conakry, on Saturday or

Sunday morning around 2am. According to a report from a
Conakry family member received via an NGO, the prisoners were
reportedly brutalized and tortured at the camp. Relatives of
the prisoners who were at Camp Alpha Yaya monitoring their
situation were reportedly roughed up and removed from the
camp during the transfer of the prisoners in the early
morning.


3. (C) A group of approximately 12 military officers had been
detained in early January shortly after the December 2008
coup, but to the Embassy's knowledge, had not been charged
with a crime. The newly transferred prisoners will join
another group already at Kassa Island, of at least three
other military officers who were detained in late April
following an alleged coup attempt.


4. (SBU) Access to the military prison on Kassa Island by
any type of NGO, prison advocacy organization, or the
International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied by
military authorities for years. Prison conditions on mainland
Guinea that are monitored by NGOs are generally considered
inhumane and are frequently described as life threatening.


5. (U) Family members have sent a letter to national and
international organizations seeking assistance in securing
the release of the prisoners.


6. (C) Jean-Marie Dore, leader of the UPG political party
and spokesperson for Les Forces Vives, told A/DCM on August 5
that he had raised these cases directly with CNDD President
Moussa Dadis Camara during a private meeting over the
weekend. When Dore emphasized that the prisoners had been
held for more than seven months without being formally
charged, Dadis reportedly waved Dore off and said he did not
want to talk about it. Dore pressed the issue again later on
in the meeting, but Dadis was uninterested and said he would
talk about it later.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) The transfer of the military officers to Kassa Island
could represent a death sentence for these men as prisoners
are rarely released from Kassa and their confinement
conditions are completely unknown and unmonitored. A rumor of
castrations and torture on Kassa Island surfaced a few months
ago, but could not be confirmed. What prompted the transfer
of the prisoners is also unknown. END COMMENT.


BROKENSHIRE