Macky Sall's main rival narrowly escaped ineligibility for the 2024 presidential election in Senegal. A Senegalese court sentenced opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Thursday (March 30th) to a two-month suspended prison sentence for defaming a minister.
"With two months suspended, Sonko remains eligible," two of his lawyers, Bamba Cissé and Cheikh Khoureyssi Ba, told AFP. However, no confirmation of this assertion was initially obtained.
>> Read also: Ousmane Sonko, the fierce opponent of Macky Sall who dreams of succeeding him
Ousmane Sonko, 48, was charged with defamation, insults and forgery against Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang during the high-tension trial in a capital crisscrossed by police and gendarmes.
Sonko and his supporters cry out for the instrumentalization of justice
Behind this defamation lawsuit, it is the declared candidacy of Ousmane Sonko for the presidential election of February 2024 that is at stake. The texts in force provide for removal from the electoral rolls, and therefore ineligibility, in certain cases of conviction for defamation.
>> See also: Senegal: what do we blame Ousmane Sonko, leader of the opposition, and what does he risk?
The opponent, who came third in the presidential election in 2019, as well as his supporters, cry out for the instrumentalization of justice by the power in place that would seek to eliminate him politically and clear the way for the outgoing Macky Sall. Ousmane Sonko vowed not to let this happen.
In addition to the two-month suspended prison sentence, the court sentenced the opponent, who was absent at the hearing, to pay 200 million CFA francs (300,000 euros) to the minister. He acquitted him of the offences of insults and forgery.
With AFP
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