Lawyers in military-ruled Burkina Faso went on strike on Tuesday, demanding respect for legal process after a prominent jurist and civil society leader was detained.
Many courts were deserted in the capital Ouagadougou and some hearings did not take place, an AFP reporter said.
The order of lawyers said a national strike had been called from June 4-8.
“Nearly every jurisdiction has been paralysed,” by the action, said a clerk at the high court in the capital, who asked not to be named.
The strike came after Guy Herve Kam was detained on Thursday at a military jail on charges of participating in a plot against the West African nation’s junta.
Kam had first been held in January before a court ordered his release in March, a decision confirmed on appeal on April 23.
According to the civil society movement coordinated by Kam and the order of lawyers, he was finally freed and then quickly kidnapped last Wednesday before being jailed again.
Several people considered hostile to the military government have recently been kidnapped or possibly arrested in Ouagadougou.
Amnesty International on Friday condemned the arrests of Kam and Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana, who according to his team, was also kidnapped last week shortly after being released from prison and accused of attempting to “destabilise” the state.
Burkina Faso has seen two coups since 2022 and the regime last month extended military rule for another five years amid persistent insecurity.
