The Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France has begun hearing the case brought before it by the survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea.
The hearing was inconclusive as the government of Guinea was not represented, and as such not many arguments took place at the courtroom.
The Presiding Judge said she would deliver her final decision on October 9, but it is still possible that she would reopen the arguments and give both sides a chance to submit more documentation and arguments.
Among others, the judge asked lawyers for the plaintiffs to submit originals of some key documents and demonstrate that the government of Guinea was notified of the legal action.
According to the lawyers, the Guinean government has been notified of the legal action while efforts are underway to furnish the court with the key documents being requested for.
Exequatur suit
In October last year, some survivors of the 2012 massacre by state security forces in the village of Zogota in the West African country of Guinea run to the Tribunal Judiciaire in Paris, France, to seek justice through a lawsuit against the Guinean state.
Earlier in 2018, these survivors brought their case to the Abuja-based ECOWAS Court of Justice after their complaints were repeatedly stalled and ignored in the Guinean courts. The ECOWAS Court found that Guinea had violated its international human rights obligations and ordered it to pay 4.56 billion Guinean francs (then approximately $436,000) to the plaintiffs, but the government is yet to comply.
This led to an exequatur suit filed by the massacre survivors at the tribunal in Paris, which they hope will grant exequatur, or recognition, of the ECOWAS Court judgment. The purpose of the exequatur suit is to recognize that the ECOWAS Court decision is enforceable in France, on an equal basis with judgments of the French courts.
Exequatur, if granted, would allow the massacre survivors to locate and seize certain Guinean state assets in France to satisfy the ECOWAS Court’s compensation order.
One of the biggest weaknesses in the international justice system for human rights abuses is the difficulty in enforcing human rights tribunals’ judgments against states, so this exequatur action could fill a major accountability gap.”
High stakes
The stakes in this action are high because not only could success make the difference that allows the Zogota massacre survivors to finally receive justice, but it would also pioneer an important new strategy for victims of grave abuses worldwide.
“The exequatur procedure seems appropriate to us because it will allow the rights of victims of this atrocity to be restored. This is because of the refusal of the Republic of Guinea to execute the judgment of the ECOWAS Court of Justice”, Foromo Frederic Loua, one of the Lawyers for victims said in an interview.
For his part, one of the village chiefs stated that: “We have suffered a lot from this atrocity, we lost close relatives, fathers, children and friends. And for a very long time we have continued to suffer, we have had no support from the Guinean authorities to date, we are asking for compensation for our losses and know that we can count on French justice.”
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