Trial of Ousmane Sonko: Senegalese opponent says he was "brutalized" and calls for "resistance"

Screen grab from a video of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on a hospital bed, March 21, 2023. © facebook.com/SonkoOfficiel

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In Senegal, Ousmane Sonko returned to the conditions of his defamation trial of March 16, 2023 in Dakar. In a video on social networks, the opponent denounced an "attack on his physical integrity" during his journey to court that day and accused Senegalese President Macky Sall of using a "strategy of terror" to eliminate political opponents.

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With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac

In Senegal, Ousmane Sonko made a statement on the night of 20 to 21 March 2023, after the clashes that occurred on 16 March in Dakar and in a very tense political climate. In the middle of a showdown with the government, the opponent, hospitalized for 4 days, denounces an "attack on his physical integrity" during his journey to the court where his trial for defamation was to be held against the Minister of Tourism Mame Mbaye Niang. He reiterates his call "for resistance".

« The police officers doused me with extremely toxic liquid."

In a sweatshirt, on a clinic bed, the leader of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) spoke in Wolof, then in French, on his social networks. The opponent says "get better". He reaffirms having been "brutalized" on Thursday, on the way to the courthouse: "The police officers sprayed me with extremely toxic liquid that produces respiratory effects, as well as at the level of the eyes, at the level of the skin, as at the level of the digestive system. The clothes were sent out of the country for the purposes of the analysis.

 »

► Read also Senegal: the Pastef announces to file a complaint for attempted assassination against Ousmane Sonko

Ousmane Sonko accuses the regime of President Macky Sall of using a "strategy of terror" to eliminate political opponents.

His party, Pastef, had called on 18 March for a medical evacuation abroad. Option ruled out: "We trust the Senegalese medical staff. The second reason is political. Dear compatriots, the fight is taking place here in Senegal.

»

Macky Sall replies in the weekly L'Express

For the ruling coalition, this hospitalization is considered a "staging", a "manipulation" of the opponent to escape justice.

In an interview published on March 20 in the French weekly L'Express, the head of state said: "No individual can block the capital on the sole pretext that he is summoned to court." If Senegal were not a genuine democracy, believe me, its fate would have been settled long ago... »

► Read also Senegal: in an interview with "L'Express", Macky Sall maintains the vagueness on a 3rd mandate

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  • Senegal
  • Macky Sall
  • Human rights
  • Society