Guinea Bissau: Military court returns main opposition leader to prison

Local media in Guinea-Bissau are reporting that a military court placed the country’s main opposition leader in pre-trial detention on Friday.

Domingos Simoes Pereira is accused of involvement in an attempted coup in October 2025, which he is alleged to have helped finance.

He also faces charges of separate financial crimes and involvement in a 2023 coup.

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.

Pereira was one of several senior politicians imprisoned by the military after it seized power in November 2025.

That coup saw the army replace President Umaro Sissoco Embalo just days after presidential and legislative elections.

It claimed it had acted to prevent bloodshed between supporters of rival candidates and announced it was taking control of the country for a period of one year.

Pereira, who leads the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, was barred from standing.

He has been under house arrest in Bissau since his release from prison in January.

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

Guinea-Bissau has seen five coups d'etat and several attempted overthrows since its independence in 1974.

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