The Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, arrested on July 28 in Dakar, was charged the next day with calling for an insurrection and other crimes and misdemeanors.
According to prosecutor Abdoul Karim Diop, speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Sonko “will be prosecuted for calling for insurrection, association of criminals, attack on state security, conspiracy against the authority of the State, acts and maneuvers to compromise public security and to create serious political disturbances, association of criminals in connection with a terrorist enterprise, but also theft”.
He clarified that his “arrest has nothing to do with the first proceedings in which (Sonko) was tried in absentia”.
The prosecutor also declared that the opponent was for having “violently stolen the mobile phone of a female gendarme”, an act that he himself would have “recognized”, he specifies; and for having “immediately called on the people, by a subversive message leaked on social networks, to be ready”.
Sonko had already spoken about this clash with the gendarmes. “On returning from Friday prayers, the general intelligence agents stationed outside my home 24 hours a day started filming me. I personally ripped the phone off and asked the person to unlock it and delete the footage they took, which they refused,” he tweeted.
And to add, “currently, a strong team of the gendarmerie is watching in front of my home as you can see and seems to want to break down the door (…) I ask the people to be ready to face these endless abuses “.
Some fear that his indictment will cause further unrest, as was the case in early June, after his sentence to two years in prison in a sex scandal. The demonstrations then resulted in 16 deaths according to the authorities, around thirty according to the opposition.
All these legal setbacks risk dealing a blow to the candidacy of Sonko who wants to run for the presidential race in February 2024. His party has already appointed him to defend his colors.
By OMA Newsletter N° 1269 of 07/31/2023
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
