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A Guinean court convicted former President Moussa Dadis Camara and seven other military leaders of crimes against humanity for their role in a massacre and mass rape that took place at a stadium in the capital Conakry in 2009, the Washington Post reported.

The long-awaited trial of Camara, who came to power in a coup in 2008, began in 2022, a year after Guinea’s current military junta took power.

The case centers on Camara’s brutal crackdown in September 2009 against peaceful protesters calling for democracy and for his decision to run for the 2010 presidential election. Guinean security forces opened fire on demonstrators, with the violence resulting in at least 150 dead and more than 100 women raped by soldiers.

Camara was among 11 leaders, including top aides and ministers, who were charged with murder, rape and kidnapping – charges that were later recategorized as crimes against humanity, according to the Guardian.

On Wednesday, the court found the former president guilty based on “command responsibility” and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The seven other defendants included Aboubacar Diakité, the former head of the presidential guard, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Diakité admitted in December 2009 that he shot Camara at point-blank range in a dispute about who was going to take the blame for the stadium killings.

Four other people were acquitted. Meanwhile, one defendant, Col. Claude Pivi, remains at large after a 2023 jailbreak. The court sentenced him to life in prison.

All the convicted individuals were ordered to pay victims and their families a total of around $400,000.

Victims, their relatives and human rights groups welcomed the verdict as a “long overdue moment.”

The verdict came despite an ongoing strike by Guinean lawyers protesting against the junta’s arbitrary arrests of citizens and activists.

Human rights advocates have warned about ongoing repression in the West African nation: Last month, authorities detained two prominent opposition party activists, an arrest advocates say is part of a broader crackdown on civil liberties.

Still, observers believe that the court’s decision could spur change in a country with a history of autocracy.