Gambiaj.com – (BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau) – The news is like a mini earthquake in Bissau. A judge of Bissau’s Regional Military Court has declared a recent ruling by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) null and void, arguing that the country’s highest criminal court did not have the legal authority to hear an appeal in the high-profile case linked to the alleged attempted coup of October 2025.
In an order dated July 27, 2026, Investigating Judge Mamadú Embaló ruled that Judgment No. 21/2026 of the Criminal Chamber violated the rules governing judicial jurisdiction because the appeal should first have been heard by the Superior Military Court.
Dispute Over Court Jurisdiction
According to the ruling, Article 140(2) of Guinea-Bissau’s Military Justice Code requires appeals against decisions made by an Investigating Judge of the Regional Military Court to be examined by the Superior Military Court.
Only decisions issued by that court may subsequently be appealed before the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Judge Embaló argued that the Superior Military Court serves the same role in the military justice system as the Court of Appeal does in the ordinary judicial system. As a result, he said there is no legal basis for a direct appeal from the Regional Military Court to the Supreme Court, a procedure known in legal terms as a per saltum appeal.
On that basis, the judge declared the Supreme Court’s Judgment No. 21/2026 invalid for breaching the rules on material jurisdiction established under criminal procedural law.
He further ordered that the case file be transferred to the Superior Military Court, which he said is the competent body to examine the appeal.
Decision Comes After Supreme Court Ordered Defendants Released
The latest ruling comes just days after the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the release of four defendants being held in connection with the alleged October 2025 coup attempt.
Those released are Mário Midana Siga, Alexandre Patrão Indi, Domingos Nhanque, and Daba Na Walna.
The Supreme Court had revoked their pre-trial detention after concluding that the Superior Military Court lacked material jurisdiction to hear the case and citing what it described as procedural irregularities in the handling of the proceedings.
High-Profile Political Case
The legal dispute forms part of the broader investigation into the alleged attempted coup of October 2025, a politically sensitive case in which the president of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Domingos Simões Pereira, is among the suspects.
Judge Embaló’s latest order effectively challenges the Supreme Court’s intervention in the case and reopens the debate over which judicial body has the legal authority to hear appeals in Guinea-Bissau’s military justice system, adding another layer of uncertainty to one of the country’s most closely watched criminal proceedings.
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