CONAKRY, Jan 7, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A key figure convicted of crimes against humanity for a 2009 stadium massacre in Guinea has died, authorities said Tuesday.

Claude Pivi was a former colonel and minister in charge of security under the West African nation's then-dictator Moussa Dadis Camara.

Pivi, also known as Coplan, was convicted in absentia in 2004 for his role in a massacre at a stadium in the capital Conakry where at least 156 people were killed.

He died in custody in a Conakry hospital on Tuesday from complications related to diabetes, the public prosecutor's office said.

Tens of thousands of people marched in Conakry in September 2009 to protest against the Camara-led junta that had seized power in a coup the year before.

At least 156 people were killed by gunfire, knives, machetes or bayonets in the stadium massacre, according to a UN-mandated international commission of inquiry.

Hundreds more were wounded and at least 109 women were raped, in what is considered one of the darkest pages in Guinean history.

Pivi was broken out of prison in 2023 and was on the run when a Guinean court sentenced him to life imprisonment the following year for crimes against humanity.

He was extradited from neighbouring Liberia later in 2024 and returned to jail.

Camara also broke out of prison in the 2023 raid but was recaptured the same day.

He was also found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years, but was pardoned at the end of March by Mamady Doumbouya.

Doumbouya heads the current junta that seized power in another coup in 2021, and won last month's presidential election in which all main opposition leaders were barred.