Dec. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The family of a man detained on suspicion of leading a coup attempt in The Gambia has demanded that the authorities release him and have denied that he was involved in an attempt against the president, Adama Barrow.
Sanna Fadera was arrested last week along with three other soldiers in the framework of what the government described as a plot to overthrow the president. Since then, three other suspects have been arrested, although none have been charged.
“Since my brother’s arrest, we have not heard from him and we are worried,” said Alia Fadera, Sanna’s sister, in statements given to the British television channel BBC. “His house and his farm were searched by the Army, but no weapons were found,” she added.
Thus, he has detailed that Fadera was arrested in the capital, Banjul, before being transferred to his village, Kiang Nema, 155 kilometers from the city. Alia Fadera has indicated that the man lived in the village with his wife and his four children and added that he traveled to Banjul daily to work.
“The whole village is surprised and when the military truck arrived, most of the villagers came out to see what was happening. I ask the authorities to release my brother,” he added.
Barrow was sworn in in January for a second term after the Supreme Court rejected at the end of December the appeal filed by the main opposition candidate against the official results of the December 4, 2021 elections.
The president achieved re-election despite the fact that this meant breaking his promise to only be in office for three years -which were fulfilled in 2020-, after reaching a controversial alliance with the party of the former dictator Yahya Jamé and after some allies will leave his side to compete against him.
The president, who won the victory in December 2016 after presenting his candidacy as an independent with the support of groups opposed to Jamé, was sworn in in January 2017 after the dictator went into exile in Equatorial Guinea after rejecting its defeat at first, which led to a threat of military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).