In Guinea, authorities offer a reward for the capture of Claude Pivi, the last escapee still on the run

Guinean authorities offered a reward equivalent to more than 54,000 euros on Wednesday, November 8, for the capture of Claude Pivi

In Guinea, authorities offer a reward for the capture of Claude Pivi, the last escapee still on the run

Guinean authorities offered a reward equivalent to more than 54,000 euros on Wednesday, November 8, for the capture of Claude Pivi. This former senior official under the dictatorship of Moussa Dadis Camara was taken from the central prison of Conakry on Saturday during a commando operation carried out by heavily armed men, alongside the former president and two other prisoners currently tried for a massacre committed in 2009. The raid left at least nine dead, according to the general prosecutor’s office. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara and the two other prisoners were recaptured the same day.

Claude Pivi, one of the strong men – and former minister – of the junta which ruled Guinea between 2008 and 2009, is still “actively wanted both nationally and internationally”, the Minister of Justice said on Wednesday, Alphonse Charles Wright, in a press release. The authorities are offering a reward of 500 million Guinean francs (54,100 euros) “to anyone who helps or facilitates [his] arrest,” it said. A toll-free number is set up and special protection measures will be taken for this person, he said. He ordered prosecutors to “do everything possible” to find Claude Pivi.

Moussa Dadis Camara, Claude Pivi and nine other former officials have been on trial since September 2022 for a litany of murders, torture, rapes and other kidnappings committed on September 28, 2009 and the following days by security forces in a suburban stadium of Conakry where tens of thousands of opposition supporters gathered.