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Guinea-Bissau: Lawyers barred from talking to Italian businesswoman detained on Friday
9:44 CAT | 23 Apr 2025
File photo: Lusa
The lawyers of the Italian businesswoman detained in Guinea-Bissau for allegedly taking part in an arson attack at a heavy sands mine told Lusa on Tuesday that they were having difficulties getting through to the police to speak to their client.
The businesswoman, who works in the hotel industry, has been held at the 2nd Police Station in Bissau since last Friday, after being arrested with a group of 15 people, most of them women, in the seaside resort of Varela, where the heavy sands mine is located.
The Guinean lawyers defending her explained to Lusa that they tried to contact the businesswoman, but were not authorised and the Public Order Police (POP) did not give them any reason.
The lawyers said that they then tried to submit an application for a writ of habeas corpus to the Ministry of the Interior, but were not answered either. The document was to be forwarded to the court.
Lusa is trying to get a reaction from the Interior Ministry, but has not succeeded.
The Italian businesswoman was arrested last Friday by the Guinean National Guard for her alleged involvement in an arson attack at the heavy sands mine in the village of Nhinquin, in Varela, 170 kilometres from Bissau.
On the same day, she was transferred to a military barracks in the village of Ingoré. On Saturday, the following day, on orders from the Minister of the Interior, Botche Candé, she was taken to Bissau.
“The authorities want to know if the businesswoman had any involvement in the arson of the machines of the Chinese company” that exploits the heavy sands in Varela, other judicial sources explained to Lusa.
Sources from the organisation said the National Guard claims to have indications “of a meeting” that took place recently between the women of Varela, in which the Italian businesswoman allegedly took part.
Among the group of people arrested with the businesswoman are at least two régulos (traditional authorities), one from Nhinquin and another from a nearby village, the same sources said.
Sources contacted by Lusa in Varela said that the businesswoman “is very supportive of the women of Varela” in their food production and small business activities.
On Friday, a group of women from Varela set fire to the machinery of the Chinese company GMG Mininig SARL in protest at the exploitation of heavy sands in the community of Nhinquin.
Since the exploitation of heavy sands began in that community in the mid-2000s, the population, particularly the women of Nhinquin, have contested the project.
The population first accused the Russian company Poto Sarl, which held the exploitation licence, and now the Chinese company, of failing to fulfil promises of improvements in favour of the community, namely the construction of a school, road, fountains and hospital.
The women have never accepted the exploitation of the heavy sand mine in Nhinquin because, allegedly, it is located in a “sacred area” where they perform village rituals.
Studies by the Guinean government indicate that in the village of Nhinquin, there is a heavy sands mine with a potential of 440,000 tonnes of heavy sands. After extraction, the equivalent of 119,000 tonnes of ores such as ilmenite, zircon, and rutile can be used.
These ores are used in the metallurgical and aeronautical industries, as well as in the nuclear industry.
Source: Lusa
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