A Nigerian law firm, Adeola Oyinlade & Co has filed a case before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice seeking the release of Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Domingos Simões Pereiraï and four others detained following the country’s disputed military takeover in November 2025.
In a statement on Thursday, Lagos-based Adeola Oyinlade & Co said it lodged the application at the Abuja-based regional court, alleging violations of fundamental human rights by Guinea-Bissau’s military authorities.
Pereira, a former parliamentary speaker and leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), was arrested in the aftermath of unrest that followed a tightly contested presidential election.
Those named in the lawsuit alongside Pereira include PAIGC lawyer and lawmaker Octávio Lopes; members of parliament Roberto Mbesba and Marciano Indi, arrested on 2 December; and party lawyer Augusto Nansambe, who was allegedly assaulted before his detention on 28 December.
According to the filing, the detainees are being held without trial or due process, in breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Revised ECOWAS Treaty. The applicants are asking the court to declare the arrests unlawful, order the immediate release of those still in custody, and restrain the authorities from further rights violations.
ECOWAS has condemned the military takeover and called for the release of political detainees, dispatching envoys to Guinea-Bissau to press for a return to constitutional order. The United Nations has also expressed alarm over the suspension of democratic processes.
