The families of two opponents of Guinea's ruling junta, who disappeared after they were reportedly seized by security forces, have filed a criminal complaint in France against its leader Mamadi Doumbouya.
Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah are two leaders of the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), a pro-democracy movement calling for the return of civilian rule in the poor West African country.
The pair's disappearance is the latest in a series of arrests since 44-year-old Mamady Doumbouya, a colonel who once served in France's Foreign Legion, seized power in Guinea in 2021.
The two men were arrested on July 9, according to their families and movement.
The Guinean public prosecutor's office has acknowledged "persistent reports of kidnappings" -- including those of Sylla and Bah -- but said the pair were not being held in any jail.
According to the FNDC, Sylla and Bah were brutalised and eventually taken to the island of Kassa off the coast of the capital Conakry where they are being held incommunicado.
The wives of the two men have lodged a complaint with a Paris court against junta leader Doumbouya over their husbands' "enforced disappearance", according to documents seen by AFP on Tuesday.
"Their families are experiencing the worst anguish and contemplating the worst", the complaint said.
According to the complaint, the disappearance of the two opponents, "in particularly suspicious circumstances", is "directly linked to the actions of the ruling military junta", led by Doumbouya.
Apart from Doumbouya the legal action targets anyone "who participated in the commission of the acts."
Last week, the French lawyers of the two missing activists asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to intervene. They demanded an investigation and called for their clients "or their remains" to be released to their relatives.
The pro-democracy group was at the forefront of protests against former president Alpha Conde, who was toppled in a military coup in 2021.