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In the 1920s, the colonial tribunals of French Guinea and the Ivory Coast witnessed a rash of death sentences handed down to a very specific group of criminals: cannibals. This article analyses this historical episode and demonstrates how condemnations for cannibalism were driven by political imperatives, which were in turn rooted in fantastical perceptions of African identity. Without any tangible proof but the unwavering support of Metropolitan authorities, colonial administrators implemented an unprecedented policy of judicial repression against the people of the Guinean and Ivorian forest.