Judged in Nouakchott in Mauritania since Wednesday January 26, the former Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is prosecuted for illicit enrichment.
Suspected of having abused his power to amass an immense fortune, the man who led Mauritania from 2008 to 2019 got up on Wednesday when his name was called, then sat down behind the gates in the first row of ten accused present.
Former presidents, prime ministers, ministers and businessmen, they respond for an unknown period of "illicit enrichment", "abuse of office", "influence peddling" or "laundering".
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, 66, denies the facts and shouts at the plot intended to keep him out of politics.
In a white boubou, a surgical mask concealing part of his bald head and his fine mustache, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz silently followed the president's endless efforts to put an end to the confusion and find space for the hundred or so lawyers present in the huge modern courthouse that looks like a bunker.
These procrastination do not detract from the extraordinary of the moment, including beyond this pivotal country between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, once shaken by coups and jihadist actions, but returned to stability under Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz when trouble was spreading in the region.
"It is a first in the history of Mauritania, and perhaps even in that of the Arab world, that a former president explains his enrichment," one of the many lawyers told AFP. representing the State, Me Brahim Ebetty.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is one of the rare ex-heads of state to be accountable for how he got rich in power.
His peers judged by national or international justice are mainly for violent crimes.
Disclaimers
“All the people in the box used the name of the state, the function of the state, especially Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz [to get rich],” MeEbetty said.
Several Mauritanians interviewed by AFP hope that the trial will serve as an example in a country ranked 140th out of 180 by the anti-corruption organization Transparency International.
Perhaps unique, the moment risks never being documented by the image.
Justice banned all cameras in the room, including cell phones.
Tediously screening the entries, she outraged the lawyers by subjecting them to the search.
The authorities had the enclosure surrounded by hundreds of police officers, without the threat to be prevented clearly appearing, protests from supporters of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz or others.
Dozens of people gathered in front of the Palace before the trial, some to support Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, others to demand on placards that he "[return] the money".
The nuisance capacity of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, known to be pugnacious, calculating and unpredictable, is a subject of speculation, even if he is now readily presented as politically isolated.
He has not stopped denying the facts since the noose began to tighten on him in 2019. It was a few months after he had given way after an election to one of his most faithful companions, his former chief of staff Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.
The first transition not imposed by force in a country subscribed to coups since independence.
"Arbitrary"
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was himself brought to power by a coup in 2008, then elected president in 2009 and re-elected in 2014.
This trial is the story of his disgrace and his ruined friendship with the one he had designated as his successor, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz's daughter, Asma, described him to AFP as "tired".
She said she was alerted on Tuesday evening by the former president's cardiologist because he had become unwell after his detention.
One of his lawyers, Me Antoine Vey, was alarmed by an "arbitrary" arrest and the conditions suggesting that his client would not be entitled to a fair trial.
"The dossier was built on work that just looks like political revisionism," he told AFP.
He intended to ask for the trial to be postponed and was preparing to refer the matter to UN authorities in the event of this request being rejected.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz's successor has always denied interference in the case.
None of the parties interviewed were able to say how long the trial would last.
With AFP
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app