Ex-GBissau military chief held over 2012 coup attempt

Bissau (AFP) - A former Guinea Bissau armed forces chief detained for more than a month over suspected involvement in a failed 2012 coup attempt has been transferred to a military prison, his lawyer said Saturday.

Jose Zamora Induta, a rear-admiral who was ousted as military chief of staff in 2010, was placed under house arrest after returning from exile in Portugal in July, according his lawyer Jose Paulo Semedo.

He was taken to a cell at the Mansoa barracks in the centre of the country on Tuesday on the orders of the Guinean Supreme Military Tribunal, Semedo said.

"Under the law, as the admiral's lawyer, I have the right to be informed and aware of any measure that is imposed, but this hasn't been the case," Semedo said.

The lawyer said Induta had been held at his residence in Bissau for more than a month on the orders of the tribunal, with three police officers stationed outside his home.

"Now they've removed him from a domestic kidnapping to lead him to probation without prior notification," Semedo added.

Induta remained in Bissau after being forcibly removed by Antonio Indjai but finally fled to former colonial power Portugal after Indjai led a coup in April 2012.

Induta claimed to have survived an assassination attempt by soldiers linked to Indjai during the mutiny against interim president Raimundo Pereira and his prime Minister Carlos Gomes.

Semedo said Induta had come to Bissau to collect data for a doctoral thesis and had informed political and military authorities beforehand of his intention to return.

A few days later, he was called to testify at the military tribunal over his alleged role in an attempted coup in October 2012 and was subsequently placed under house arrest.

The October 21, 2012 dawn attack on an elite "Red Beret" army barracks in Bissau left at least seven people dead, including six of the attackers.

Transition authorities in the west African nation have accused Portugal of instigating the attack in a bid to re-instate former prime minister Carlos Gomes Junior, who was ousted in an April 12 coup.

Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by coups since independence from Portugal in 1974 and the instability has attracted South American drug cartels using the country as a transit point to Europe.

The country of 1.6 million says it has reintroduced the rule of law since electing Jose Mario Vaz last year in polls that were judged by the European Union as "free and credible".