Senegal: Ousmane Sonko refuses to go to the parliamentary committee
The president of Pastef Ousmane Sonko is accused of repetitive rape with threats by an employee of a beauty salon.
(illustrative image) Carmen Abd Ali / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The political opponent Ousmane Sonko will not go on Monday February 22 to the convocation of the ad hoc committee of the National Assembly which must rule on the lifting or not of his immunity.
Accused of repetitive rape with threats by an employee of a beauty salon, the president of the Patriots party, the Pastef, refused to surrender Monday, February 8 at the convocation of the gendarmerie, invoking his parliamentary immunity - but the procedure for the lift is now fully engaged.
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With our correspondent in Dakar,
Théa Ollivier
Members of the parliamentary committee will not be able to hear Ousmane Sonko next Monday.
The political opponent accused of rape will not comply with his summons.
His lawyer, Me Bamba Cissé, explains that he does not want to cooperate in a procedure that he considers “
illegal
”.
According to him, the examining magistrate is showing partiality, because he seized the prosecutor to request the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of the deputy Ousmane Sonko without preliminary investigation, whereas the requisition targeted X.
In addition, the commission is contested by its members from the opposition.
They wanted to hear from other people like the complainant - a beauty salon employee - before writing their report and making a decision.
However, Abdou Mbow, the vice-president of the National Assembly, assures that the ad hoc committee has no obligation to listen to other people ...
According to him, Ousmane Sonko however has the right not to attend the summons.
But the committee will continue to do its work until it calls a plenary session, where the lifting - or not - of its immunity will be voted.
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