Political leader Etienne Soropogui arrested for criticizing ruling junta – The North Africa Post

Etienne Soropogui (a high-profile political leader in Guinea Conakry) was arrested Saturday after he slammed the ruling Juda on a local radio station.

The leader of Nos Valeurs Communes [Our Common Values] (NVC), according to his lawyer Salifou Béavogui, was collared by around 50 officers of the gendarmerie after he spoke on a show on Radio fim FM.

“As soon as he left the radio, about fifty gendarmes, according to the information he gave me, intercepted him and took him to the Central Directorate of Judicial Investigations of the National Gendarmerie where he was detained, without any offence being reported for the moment,” Beavogui told French media RFI.

The lawyer attacked the arrest, calling it arbitrary and unjust, and not based upon any law.

“He has not yet been interrogated and he has not been notified of anything, absolutely nothing. He is currently on hold. Is this custody that has already started? He has not been notified about anything according to law. He is present and, unfortunately, he [spent] his first night at the gendarmerie illegally,” he added.

Mamady Doubouya, a junta that overthrew Alpha Omar, was elected as the leader of the new junta.

The junta has been at odds with ECOWAS, a regional body that has demanded a roadmap for a return to a constitutional order. Last week, the regional organisation announced a series progressively applied sanctions against the military group in charge of the West African country.

“Those who incite this group of soldiers to become radicalized, to enter into a configuration of arm wrestling with both national actors and the international community, are not doing the junta any good. I believe that they are being called upon to do reality check, and that it will be better for them and better for our country,” the political figures said in the show also relayed on Youtube.