Diallo, founding publisher, owner, and columnist of the independent bimonthly L’Enquêteur, was arrested by gendarmes in the capital, Conakry. The arrest followed the publication of an article in that day’s edition of L’Enquêteur alleging that army inspector general Col. Mamadou Baldé had resigned. Baldé denied the allegation and accused his detractors of “wanting to do him in,” Agence France-Presse reported.
Diallo was charged with defamation, and on December 20, he was transferred from the gendarmerie to Conakry’s Central Prison to await trial. On January 3, 2003, Diallo was provisionally released from prison. On January 7, he was convicted of defamation and sentenced to a year in prison. However, shortly after the sentence was announced, President Lansana Conté pardoned Diallo.