Detained for a week, the former Mauritanian president remains silent in the face of investigators

Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz during the handover ceremony to the current president on August 1, 2019 in Nouakchott Seyllou / dpa

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2 min

A week in the premises of the national security and still not a word from Mohamed ould Abdel Aziz to the investigators. Investigators from the economic crime repression police investigative department summoned him on August 17. They wish to hear from him on cases of corruption and embezzlement of public property committed during his decade in power between 2008 and 2019. Cases revealed in a report of a parliamentary commission of inquiry.

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With our correspondent in Nouakchott, Salem Mejbour

The report which pinpoints slippages in the management of the former Mauritanian president during his ten years in office was sent to justice on August 5 after having been validated by the Assembly on July 29. It is on the basis of this document that investigations are currently being carried out by the economic crime repression services. The police seek to determine the responsibility of the old regime cited in the report.  

Among these personalities, the police have already heard from former ministers and prime ministers. Their passports were confiscated. But none were held in the police premises as is the case of former president Mohamed ould Abdel Aziz. The latter opted for the strategy of silence. No word to the investigators.

He will not change his position regardless of the length of police custody, one of his Mauritanian lawyers told us on Sunday evening.

For their part, the French lawyers of the former head of state questioned the independence of the Mauritanian justice on a private television channel. The Nouakchott prosecutor's office blasted an unacceptable exit and reaffirmed Mauritania's independence.

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  • Mauritania
  • Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz

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