Niger junta says it plans to prosecute ousted president Mohamed Bazoum for high treason over his exchanges with foreign heads of state and international organisations.
According to Reuters, Junta spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane said in a statement read out on state TV late on Sunday that the military authorities had “gathered the necessary evidence to prosecute the ousted president “For high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger.”
Abdramane also said there was a misinformation campaign against the junta to try to “derail any negotiated solution to the crisis in order to justify military intervention.
The African Union, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations have all said they were worried about the conditions in which Bazoum is being kept.
Bazoum’s political party said his family had no access to running water, fresh food or doctors, and Bazoum told Human Rights Watch that his son needed to see a doctor because of a serious heart condition.
But the junta said on Sunday that Bazoum was regularly seeing his doctor and that the last visit was on Aug. 12.
“After this visit the doctor raised no concerns about the state of health of the ousted president and members of his family,” Abdramane said.
Meanwhile, West Africa’s main regional bloc ECOWAS is expected on Monday to push for more talks with the junta, which has signalled a potential willingness to find a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over the July 26 coup.
