On Sunday, June 28, 2015, a cadet policeman from the Compagnie mobile d’Intervention et de Sécurité (Mobile Intervention and Security Company) beat up Amadou Labaya Camara, a sports reporter of Continental FM, in Guinea.
The incident happened when the journalist went to cover a match between Association Sportive du Kaloum and Horoya Athletic Club, two big sports clubs in Guinea’s capital, Conakry.
“I was going to interview the players when this cadet policeman stopped me,” Camara told MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea. “He struck me violently in the face, I fell down and blood flowed from above my eye. I then fainted.
The cadet policeman also reportedly insulted journalists present and called them “damned souls.”
“He was not dealt with by the top police hierarchy. The policemen at the scene were rather happy,” a journalist who witnessed the incident told our correspondent.
According to our correspondent, Camara has indicated he will lodge a complaint against the unnamed cadet policeman.
The MFWA remains worried about the safety of journalists in Guinea. Members of the security forces in Guinea continue to abuse journalists. A troubling number of violations reported in Guinea are perpetrated by police or gendarmes. On account of this disturbing trend, in March 2015, the MFWA petitioned the Commander of the Guinean Gendamerie to punish gendarmes who abuse journalists in their line of work. The Commander has yet to respond.
