Niger’s army junta has announced plans to prosecute deposed President Mohamed Bazoum for excessive treason and undermining country wide security.
This is the modern day signal that the junta intends to resist international strain to return power to Mr Bazoum.
He has been held in the basement of his palace because the military staged a coup about three weeks ago.
Mr Bazoum was in “good spirits” regardless of being held in “difficult” situations, his doctor said after a visit.
Saturday’s visit was authorized amid growing global demands for Mr Bazoum’s release.
But in a sign that it’s hardening its function, the junta said in statement that read out on country TV that it had accumulated proof to prosecute “the deposed president and his local and foreign accomplices for excessive treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger”.
It did not give in addition information.
Mr Bazoum, 63, is being held captive together with his spouse and son and there had been developing concerns about their health.
Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, the head of the presidential guards unit, declared himself Niger’s new ruler on 26 July after overthrowing him.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened the military action to overturn the coup, however it has so far failed to comply with through on its threatening remark.
The coup leaders have warned they may shield themselves against any intervention.
ECOWAS has additionally imposed sanctions on the junta, together with cutting electricity to Niger. This has brought about blackouts in the capital Niamey, and other principal cities.
On Saturday, a high-powered delegation of Muslim clerics from neighbouring Nigeria met junta leaders in Niamey in a bid to mediate an cease to the disaster.
Junta-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine said he was optimistic that talks with ECOWAS could take vicinity within the coming days “to discuss how the sanctions towards us will be lifted”.
The coup in Niger as compared to takeovers in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, amid an Islamist insurgency and a growing Russian have an influence within the wider Sahel region through its mercenary organization Wagner.
Despite his captivity, Mr Bazoum was capable of publishing a piece of writing in The Washington Post declaring that he was a hostage and that the coup might have “devastating outcomes for our country, our region and the world as a whole”.
Mr Bazoum is described to have lost a “worrying” amount of weight, at the same time as his 20 year old son, who has a chronic health condition, also denied care.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk described the conditions of the detention as inhumane, degrading and in violation of international human rights regulation.
His daughter Zazia, 34, went on holidays in France during the coup, she told UK-based Guardian newspaper kast week that her father, mom and brother had no clean water or electricity and have been dwelling on rice and pasta.
Fresh food was rotting inside the refrigerator because there has been no light, she stated.
Mr Bazoum has been seen once since his overthrow, in a image released after he met Chad’s leader Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno.
Mr Déby met both the junta and Mr Bazoum quickly after the coup in a failed bid to resolve the crisis.