Mauritania: Lawyers for former President Abdel Aziz question the fairness of his trial
Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
(Illustration photo from 2018).
© AP - Ludovic Marin
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In Mauritania, will former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz be entitled to a fair trial?
This is the question posed by his lawyers.
During a press conference on Saturday, January 14, in Nouakchott, they denounced “
a cascade of violations of his rights at all levels of the procedure.
»
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The former head of state must be tried, in ten days, on January 25, at the same time as a dozen other high personalities, for acts of corruption, money laundering or even illicit enrichment. .
However, the lawyers of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz denounce a political trial.
Joined by RFI, Maître Ciré Cledor Ly complains in particular of still not having had access to the judicial file.
“
The audience is approaching.
The clerk, on the other hand, says that he has not received an order to hand over the file to us, whereas we are entitled not only to a copy of the documents and the minutes but also, we have the right to claim the completeness of the file and have the procedural texts at our expense.
So we wrote to have it all, at our expense and, to date, absolutely nothing.
We will have eight days left, Monday, and you understand that with
8,000 to
10,000 exhibits, asking the lawyers to prepare the president's defense with him -
because he would have to see what he is accused of and that it directs us on the elements which make it possible to bring the untruth of what is alleged in all things
- in fact, it is impossible in eight days.
If we don't have the record from the court, from the Criminal Court, it means that we, like our client, will appear unprepared and it's not a fair trial
”.
Read also: Confiscation of the passport of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz: the Mauritanian government explains
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Mauritania
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Justice