Opposition leader trial set for 12 April

Jailed opposition leader Alpha Conde will stand trial on 12 April charged with threatening state security, the administrative secretary of his RPG party told IRIN on Tuesday. Mohamed Deane, of Conde’s Rassemblement du peuple de Guinee party, said the announcement was made on Monday on state-owned media. Conde will be tried with 47 others, AFP reported quoting Yves Aboly, public prosecutor of the Security Court. His trial, initially set for 17 September 1999, was postponed without official explanation. International and national leaders have repeatedly demanded that he be brought to trial or released. Deane said Conde has had no contact with his family since his arrest on 16 December 1998, the day after presidential elections in which he was a candidate. Official results placed him third with just over 17 percent of the votes, behind incumbent President Lansana Conte with 56 percent, and Momadou Ba with 24 percent, AFP reported.