The Gabon military junta has released Ali Bongo from house arrest.
Bongo was released eight days after he was deposed as president, TheCale reports.
The new military leaders in the Central African nation said Bongo is free to leave the country for medical treatment.
On August 30, the military toppled Bongo on the morning the National Election Authority (NEA) announced that he had been re-elected to a third term in office.
Brice Nguema, who Bongo’s cousin, an army general who led the coup, was sworn in as interim president.
He had served as a bodyguard to Bongo’s late father and also headed the country’s republican guard, an elite military unit.
The statement announcing Bongo’s release from house arrest was signed by Nguema.
“Given his state of health, the former President of the Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba is free to move about,” Ulrich Manfoumbi, the military spokesperson, said in the statement read on national television on Wednesday evening.
“He may, if he wishes, travel abroad for medical checkups.”
Bongo became president when Omar, his father, died after ruling from 1967 to 2009.
