Former Prime Minister Aristides Gomes has filed a complaint against the Guinean state at the African Court of Human Rights, the ECOWAS Court and the Guinea-Bissau courts for violating his rights, freedoms and guarantees, his lawyer said today.

Beatriz Furtado told Lusa today that Aristides Gomes' defense team is currently preparing its response to the allegations presented by the Guinean State to the African Court of Human Rights, following the complaint filed with that court for violations of the rights, freedoms and guarantees that he has been subjected to since March 2020.

In addition to this complaint with the African Court of Human Rights, Aristides Gomes filed another petition against the Guinean State with the Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said Beatriz Furtado.

“In Guinea-Bissau, we filed a lawsuit, and to this day, our judges and public prosecutors have not made a decision,” the lawyer explained.

Beatriz Furtado explained that Aristides Gomes filed criminal complaints (one in late 2020 and two in 2023) against the Guinean State and some of the political office holders, “since the 2020 situation”.

In March 2020, after his government, which emerged from the elections, was dismissed by the Guinean President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, Aristides Gomes took refuge in the United Nations facilities in Bissau for about a year, “for fear of his life”, according to the lawyers.

Gomes left the country in February 2021, according to the Guinean justice system, “for medical treatment abroad”, in an action coordinated by the United Nations.

The former prime minister, who has since settled in France, returned to the country in November 2023 to participate in the congress of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), of which he is a leader, but security forces tried to arrest him in the middle of the meeting room.

The politician left Bissau in disguise and, days later, told Lusa that he was in France.

According to the lawyer, the former prime minister complained to the three courts – the Court of Appeal in Guinea-Bissau, the African Court of Human Rights and the ECOWAS Court – for crimes of violation of fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees, violation of the African Charter and other crimes, namely slander and defamation.

“We demand internally and internationally that the State of Guinea-Bissau be condemned for constant violations of fundamental rights and freedoms (…) for having been forced to leave the country,” stressed Beatriz Furtado.

The lawyer said she believes that the State of Guinea-Bissau “will be condemned” to pay compensation to Aristides Gomes, money that he will channel to charities.