A military court in Guinea-Bissau has ordered opposition leader and former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira back to prison, his family said Monday.
Pereira, who leads the PAIGC party, was transferred back to jail last Friday. The family said in an email to Reuters that military authorities are now linking him to an alleged coup attempt in October 2025. They denied the claims and said Pereira was “not engaged in violent or unconstitutional acts.”
The move reverses his release in February. After the junta took power in a coup last year, Pereira was freed in what analysts saw as an effort to satisfy pressure from the West African bloc ECOWAS. Since then he had been held under house arrest over suspicions of economic crimes.
Pereira was first detained on Nov. 26, the day army officers seized power ahead of the scheduled announcement of presidential election results.
His relatives said no trial date has been set and expressed concern about his health and safety.
A government spokesperson directed questions to the military court, which Reuters could not reach for comment.
Guinea-Bissau’s electoral commission had said it could not finish last year’s vote because of the coup. A new presidential election is now set for Dec. 6.
