The suspension of the Labé prosecutor by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights is fueling the debate in Guinea. In a memo published in the press, Abdoulaye Israel Kpoghomou declares having, for 12 years, done his job as a magistrate in the rules of the art without any complaint. This, unlike Minister Alphonse Charles Wright who has “Seven disciplinary proceedings pending before the Disciplinary Board of the Superior Council of the Judiciary”
Read the Memo…
On January 27, 2023, I was indeed in the prefecture of Lélouma as part of my program of inspection of justices of the peace, prisons and investigation units.
Information to be checked with Mr. Ousmane KOULIBALY, Justice of the Peace of Lélouma: 622 16 81 42.
It was on this date that the file containing the order for dismissal was communicated to the prosecution.
DETAILS:
1-Being in Lélouma, my Substitute did not report this decision to me by telephone (dismissal order);
2-On my return, the Substitute did not report to me either on the communication of the file containing this order of Dismissal;
If he had, I would have had two choices:
First: lodge an appeal against the decision within 5 days from the date of transmission of the order, by making a declaration to the court office: this would have resulted in the non-execution of the decision.
Second: refraining from appealing: this would have resulted in: the issuing of a release order in execution of the decision. In view of this document, the manager would have immediately released the detainee.
-The Substitute, according to him, ordered the clerk of the public prosecutor’s office to deposit the file at the office upon my return from mission, the latter, instead of doing so, would have rather deposited this file at the court registry (information verifiable with the head of the registry, Maître TOURÉ, Telephone: 621 57 86 88).
-The head of registry as far as he is concerned also did not check the file to see whether or not it contained a copy of the release order.
3-The investigating judge who rendered the decision also has the obligation to notify the detained accused, he does so through the Manager of the central house.
Question ??? the Property Manager declares that he never received a notification of this decision, the traces of which do not appear in his register.
If the decision had actually been notified to the accused through the channel of the Regisseur, the latter would have informed me, since I was at the Central House on March 21, the day the deceased prisoner was evacuated. But curiously, neither he nor the Stage Manager told me about this famous decision.
Information verifiable with the Manager of the Central House of Labé (Abdoul Karim CAMARA, Telephone: 628 86 43 43).
4-It was I who ordered the evacuation of the sick prisoner after having been informed by the Manager. I instructed the Director of the Hospital to receive it and what was done.
Information verifiable with Doctor CONDÉ, Director of the Labé Regional Hospital (Telephone: 621 37 60 10).
The fact of returning the detainee to the infirmary of the Labé Central House when he was seriously ill and bedridden in the emergency room is not attributable to the Prosecutor.
In conclusion, the Prosecutor has never breached his professional obligations by showing negligence, on the contrary, I am one of the most proactive Prosecutors, however I can only act in such cases when I am informed. Information is essential for any decision-making.
My frequency at the Central House of Labé for controls is known to all the actors of the criminal chain of Labé.
Information verifiable with my Substitute, the investigating judge and the representative of the Guinean Organization for the Defense of Human Rights/OGDH/Labé:
Telephone Mr Cé Avis GAMY/Substitute Prosecutor: 624 16 51 76.
Telephone Mr. Idrissa Sampiring DIALLO: 622 26 95 51.
Telephone Mr. Boubacar Djenaba BARRY: 623 05 11 77.
5-Failures denounced by the Keeper of the Seals:
No argument relating to shortcomings can be imputed to the Public Prosecutor in such a case, insofar as there is no doubt that he is one of the most experienced prosecutors in the country.
In 12 years of career, he has served in the largest prosecutor’s offices in Guinea:
-From July 13, 2011 to August 6, 2018, from November 7, 2018 to July 9, 2021, Deputy Public Prosecutor/Kaloum Court.
– From July 09 to December 29, 2021, Acting Public Prosecutor at the Dubréka Court.
-From December 29, 2021 to September 19, 2022, Public Prosecutor at the Court of Mafanco.
-From September 19, 2022 to March 23, 2023, Public Prosecutor at the Court of Labé.
It should be noted that during these 12 years, he has never been the subject of a complaint, nor of a disciplinary procedure, which sufficiently proves his experience and his commitment to always work in accordance with the law. respecting his oath of Magistrate, unlike the Keeper of the Seals who has nearly 7 proceedings pending before the Disciplinary Council of the CSM against him alone.
6-The Minister declares that he took a decision in view of the report requested by the general inspectorate of judicial and penitentiary services, whereas the suspension decision was taken even before the production of the report, since the Prosecutor had a deadline which would run until to Tuesday, March 28, 2023 to produce its report.
On the same day, that is to say March 23, 2023, invited to the closing ceremony of a training seminar held in the governorate of Conakry, he publicly declared that he was going to suspend the Prosecutor of Labé , even before the requested report is communicated to it. This once again demonstrates the premeditated nature of his act.
The Minister has therefore committed the following breaches, which demonstrate his relentlessness and lack of professionalism:
1-He received no complaint against the Prosecutor while he suspended him without even having heard his version of the facts, hence the violation of the adversarial principle.
2-Before even notifying the decision to the Prosecutor, he published it on social networks as usual, which is a violation of an elementary principle, all the more serious insofar as this action was undertaken at intended to tarnish the image of the person concerned.
3-The Keeper of the Seals detailed in his suspension order the facts when he had the obligation to limit himself to mentioning the nature of the fault, which is very serious insofar as he voluntarily endangered the life of the Prosecutor, if the latter was not a professional magistrate and known not only in Labé but throughout the country as being attached to the respect of human rights but also respectful of the procedure.
The testimonies of the representative of the OGDH and all the other actors of the justice of Labé bear witness to this.
With only one Deputy Prosecutor in the person of Mr. Cé Avis GAMY, the second, Marwane BALDÉ being absent all the time, for a jurisdiction which covers 4 prefectures including: Mali, Lélouma, Koubia and Tougué, the Prosecutor, despite the lack of means and a largely insufficient workforce, fought valiantly for:
– The resumption of criminal hearings thanks to the support of the OGDH;
-Permanent inspection of judicial police services, prisons and justices of the peace;
It should be noted that before arriving, the Prosecutors who preceded him limited their activities to Labé, with a few exceptions, but as far as he is concerned, as soon as he took office, he set up a program which consisted in bringing the justice of litigants and was thus preparing to visit the 53 communities within the jurisdiction of the Labé region in order to control the police stations and the gendarmerie brigades in rural areas.
To characterize the attitude of the Prosecutor as unprofessional is insulting, insofar as he produced results in a short time, despite the difficult conditions in which he worked with his team. This has also earned him the congratulations of the mission of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.
The main objective of the Keeper of the Seals in this case is to tarnish the image of a magistrate who frightens him, whom he has rubbed shoulders with for years and whom he described as the best prosecutor in Guinea, it was at the when the two worked together in Dubréka in the functions of President for one (Charles Wright) and Public Prosecutor for the other (Abdoulaye Israël Kpogomou).
If there had been the slightest breach attributable to the Prosecutor in this case, the OGDH would have been the first organization to denounce it.
The professional fault is to be found elsewhere and the Keeper of the Seals, if he were not relentless, could even have sent an inspection mission to Labé as in the past in order to better shed light on his religion, but passion and hatred have prevailed over reason.
The truth always comes last, and very late, because it is guided by a lame man, who is time (Baltasar Gracian).
Daouda Yansané in Israel Prosecutor’s Memo Kpoghomou