Court returns Guinea Bissau opposition leader to prison over coup plot

A military court placed Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira in prison Friday, according to a security source, as he faces accusations of having tried to overturn the previous government.

Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), was detained when the army overthrew President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on November 26 last year.

However he was released in January and had been living under house arrest in Bissau since then.

Pereira stands accused of involvement in an attempted October 2025 coup, which he is alleged to have helped finance, in addition to separate financial crimes and involvement in a 2023 coup attempt.

Both of the alleged coup attempts occurred under Embalo, before his November ousting.

After arriving for an appearance in military court mid-morning Friday, he was immediately taken under heavy escort to the capital’s Segunda Esquadra prison, a security source told AFP.

“Upon his arrival, the military court judge informed him of the decision to imprison him”, the source said, on condition of anonymity.

“It all happened in a matter of minutes. He was escorted to prison by heavily armed rapid-response police officers wearing balaclavas”, the source added.

Roberto Indeque from Pereira’s legal team said on local radio that “we, his lawyers, decided to boycott the hearing by refusing to appear, on the grounds that the proceedings were taking place outside the legal framework and that we had not even been informed of our client’s appearance before the judge”.

Pereira’s lawyers and his party denounce the accusations against him as arbitrary and say they are part of a politically motivated campaign aimed at barring him from the presidential race scheduled for December 6.

Guinea-Bissau has seen five coups d’etat and several attempted overthrows since its independence in 1974. General Horta N’Tam leads the current military government.

The west African nation’s crippling poverty and political chaos have also made it a fertile ground for corruption and drug smuggling.

AFP