Click to expand Image Mohamed Traoré, Guinea 2024. © 2024 Private In Guinea early on Saturday morning, at least a half-dozen heavily armed men broke into the home of Mohamed Traoré, a prominent lawyer and former bar association president, assaulted him and his daughter, and then forced him into a car and drove away. Traoré had been publicly critical of the country’s military junta, which took power in September 2021.After his abduction in the capital, Conakry, Traoré was found hours later with multiple marks of torture in Bangouyah, about 170 kilometers away, by local residents. The bar association reported that he was being treated in a health facility.The abduction and assault fit a pattern of government security force attacks on the junta’s critics, dissidents, and political opponents.On Monday, in response to the attack, the Guinean bar association adopted a series of measures, including a two-week boycott of all court hearings and the withdrawal of all lawyers sitting on the transitional institutions established by the junta since the coup. The bar association also announced it would file a complaint.The bar association, in a June 21 statement, said that during his captivity, Traoré was “whipped” up to 500 times, his face “forcibly covered with a garment in an apparent attempt to asphyxiate him,” and that his abductors threatened him with death.The attack may have been a retaliation for Traoré’s resignation from the National Transitional Council (NTC), the leading transitional body of the junta, in which he served as an adviser since 2022. Traoré announced his resignation in January citing the NTC’s failure to meet the established deadline to return Guinea to civilian rule, announced for December 31, 2024.The deadline’s passing sparked opposition protests that paralyzed Conakry in January. Following the protests, officials announced new electoral timelines. On April 1, Guinea’s military leader, Mamady Doumbouya, set September 21, 2025, as the date for a needed constitutional referendum. On May 12, Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah announced that presidential elections would take place in December 2025.Since taking power, the junta has cracked down on the political opposition, media, and peaceful dissent. It suspended independent media outlets, arbitrarily arrested journalists, and forcibly disappeared and allegedly tortured prominent political activists.Guinea’s authorities should promptly, credibly, and impartially investigate Traoré’s abduction and torture. They should also publicly denounce abuses against critics and opponents and ensure that those committing them are held to account.