Guinea's ex-Constitutional Court president sentenced to seven years in jail

The former president of Guinea's Constitutional Court, Mohamed Lamine Bangura, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by an anti-graft court. It convicted him of illicit enrichment, corruption, embezzlement of over $20 million in public funds and money laundering. Bangura was also sentenced to a heavy fine and substantial damages to be paid to the state, jointly with his two co-defendants, who both fugitives. The case against him is in connection to the management of money allocated to the constitutional court when he was its head. He was among approximately 180 high-ranking officials and former ministers from the administration of ex-president Alpha Condé to be targeted by the court. Condé was overthrown in a 2021 coup that brought Mamadi Dumbuya to power. He first ruled as junta chief before being elected president last year in a vote with no substantial opposition. The country's opposition has denounced the suppression of freedoms and alleges the judicial system is being weaponized under Dumbuya's rule.