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Journalist Saa Momori Koundouno brutalised, briefly detained while covering clash between soldiers and youth group

(MFWA/IFEX) - On 12 March 2009, Saa Momori Koundouno, a reporter with Radio Djigui, a privately-owned Conakry-based radio station, was violently assaulted and briefly detained by soldiers of the Red Berets Unit from Camp Yaya Diallo, the headquarters of the military government.

Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent reported that the irate soldiers hit Koundouno several times with horse whips, kicked him with their boots, and made him sit on the floor for several hours.

Koundouno was covering a clash between soldiers and youth group protesting the sale of their recreational ground by the authorities when the soldiers attacked him.

"I was filing my report when the soldiers pounced on me, saying that we journalists peddled bad news to people" told the correspondent.

He said the soldiers confiscated his reporting equipment, damaged his wrist watch and destroyed his cellular phone. His equipment was later returned to him.

The soldiers later detained him in their van for three hours before setting him free.

The commander of the unit told Koundouno before his release that he could report the matter wherever it pleased him because they (the soldiers) have done a good job.