The lawyer of the Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, Me Juan Branco, imprisoned and then expelled from Senegal on Monday August 7, called, the next day from France, the Senegalese President Macky Sall to release “all political prisoners” from his country.
“I invite Macky Sall to make my release the first, to open the door to the release of all political prisoners to allow this democratic transition that the Senegalese people are asking for,” he said. he said during a press briefing held Tuesday in Paris.
The Franco-Spanish lawyer also defended his client’s case in particular, inviting the Senegalese head of state “to put an end to the violence he is inflicting on Ousmane Sonko, to let him stand freely in the coming elections”.
Ousmane Sonko was recently chosen by his party to defend his colors in the presidential election of February 2024. But the opponent is facing justice in several cases, thus threatening his eligibility. More than that, his political formation, the Pastef had just been dissolved by the authorities.
Sonko has been engaged since 2021 in a standoff with power. Often the decisions of the court against him have given rise to demonstrations sometimes resulting in deaths.
The day after his last arrest, he began a hunger strike on July 30 and was hospitalized. According to his lawyer, he would suffer from “kidney failure as a result of his hunger strike”. “We asked Ousmane Sonko to end his hunger strike,” he said.
Branco would have entered Senegal illegally and tried to leave the country in the same way, when he was already under investigation by the Senegalese justice. He was arrested on Saturday August 5 at the border with Mauritania and handed over to the Senegalese authorities.
The lawyer was charged with attack, conspiracy, dissemination of false news and acts and maneuvers likely to compromise public security or cause serious political disturbances; before being deported to France.
By OMA Newsletter N° 1281 of 08/09/2023
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
