Chronicle

Italian activist Valentina Cirelli arrested in Guinea Bissau: fighting against the opening of a mine without environmental assessment

Lerici activist and hotel entrepreneur arrested with 15 others in Guinea Bissau.

24 April 2025[Aggiornato il 24 aprile 2025, ore 20:10]

Miniera a cielo aperto in un Paese del centro Africa (Steeve Jordan/Afp)

4' min read

Key points

The story
The post by the mayor of Lerici, Leonardo Paoletti
Farnesina: "Embassy in Dakar follows Italian case arrested"

4' min read

"Valentina is fine, she has great moral and psychic strength, she is holding up great in her cell, she is being passed food, but she cannot access the telephone. She is therefore isolated with 15 other people".

Speaking to Adnkronos is Alessandra Manzini, a researcher and acquaintance of Valentina Cirelli, the Italian from Lerici, in the province of La Spezia, who was arrested in Varela, a town in Guinea Bissau.

Manzini was able to hear Cirelli's voice, recorded by a person who visited her in her cell in recent days. 'I am a researcher in Guinea Bissau for work,' she recounts, 'with Valentina we looked at all the environmental and technical impact assessments issued by the company that lacked consistency and did not respect procedural timelines, she felt threatened and persecuted by both the company and the heavy sand deposit exploitation operation, all for being considered a leader in the community by the government and opposed to the project. Valentina is a pacifist, opposed to all forms of violence. I personally interviewed many people and they all said they were against the project being carried out without the informed consent of the population'.

At the origin of the arrest was a fire at the company's machinery: 'Numerous people peacefully expressed their displeasure, we do not know who set fire to the equipment, but taking people at random just because they are considered community leaders is unjust and a violation of human rights.

Manzini confirms that Valentina Cirelli is currently not allowed to contact her lawyer, whom she was only able to see for ten minutes. Cirelli also met the Italian consul. 'Basic human rights were not respected,' the researcher explains.

The affair

An Italian activist and hotel entrepreneur, Valentina Cirelli, was arrested last week in Guinea Bissau, along with 15 other people, in the town of Varela.

Cirelli, president of an environmental association and owner of a hotel, was approached on 18 April by eight National Guard soldiers, after a fire at the facilities of a Nihinquin heavy sands exploitation project.

Cirelli cannot get in touch with his lawyers.

After the raid at her hotel, the military informs the woman that the commander wants to talk to her at the military post in Varela.

At Varela's military post, the activist and businesswoman, of Italian father and Guinean mother, was informed that she would be transferred to Ingoré, to be formally detained and heard by the public prosecutor's office.

The night of the 18th to the 19th, Cirelli spent it detained in Ingoré, together with a woman from Nhinquin. The next day, both were transferred to a cell in the second police station in Bissau.

The next day, Easter Sunday, the lawyer and a friend visit the woman for 10 minutes, bringing her clothes, food and toiletries, and the police allow her to call her father briefly, before confiscating her mobile phone again.

The Italian honorary consul managed to visit her for about an hour. Then the next day, Cirelli was taken to the Ministry of the Interior, without first having been able to meet the lawyers, and then sent back to the same cell in the police station in Bissau. The police did not allow the lawyers to contact her because of 'superior orders', while today they tried to deliver a Habeas Corpus request, in order to forward it to the judge for criminal investigations, but the officers refused to receive it.

The post by the Mayor of Lerici, Leonardo Paoletti

This is the post from the mayor of Lerici, published by Città della Spezia, Leonardo Paoletti. 'Of Italian father and Guinean mother, Lerici carries on in Guinea Bissau a kindergarten and primary schools social project started by Miradas al Mundo, flanked by a sustainable tourism project rooted in the local culture that supports the same school,' writes the mayor Paoletti. 'After some peaceful demonstrations against the activities of a Chinese mining company, some isolated acts of vandalism occurred, but without the direct involvement of Valentina.

"Nevertheless, last Friday Valentina was arrested by the authorities in Ingoré, on the border with Senegal, for simply being an active figure and community leader. Along with her, village leaders and other influential people who did not accept the mining project were arrested'.

Farnesina: "Embassy in Dakar follows Italian case arrested"

The Italian embassy in Dakar and the consular correspondent in Bissau are following the case with the utmost attention and are keeping in touch with Valentina Cirelli, the Italian activist and hotel owner arrested last week in the seaside resort of Varela, Guinea Bissau.

Farnesina sources tell Adnkronos, pointing out that the embassy has contacted the Guinean authorities to enquire about the compatriot's status and torequest that her rights be guaranteed.

The activist is alleged to have taken part in demonstrations with vandalism against a Chinese company, which holds a concession to exploit land for mineral extraction. The alleged offence is alleged to be taking part in demonstrations of vandalism against the Chinese company. The activist is accused of taking part in demonstrations of vandalism against the Chinese company.