A court in Dakar has found opposition leader Ousmane Sonko guilty of defamation of minister Mame Mbaye Niang.
This is a legal setback for the leader of PASTEF. Ousmane Sonko was charged with defamation and public insult by the Minister of Tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang, and was sentenced in absentia by the court in Dakar on Thursday 30 March. He was sentenced to two months suspended imprisonment for defamation and to pay 200 million CFA francs in damages.
In his previous statements, Mame Mbaye Niang had said that he wanted to “clear his name” in court after Ousmane Sonko had accused him, in a report by the General Inspectorate of the State (IGE), of having been involved in the management of 29 billion CFA francs of the Programme of Community Agricultural Estates (PRODAC) when he was Minister of Youth.
This Thursday, the judge announced the verdict in the absence of the mayor of Ziguinchor (South), who stayed at home this time after the trial was postponed twice. Ousmane Sonko’s lawyers used the medical certificate of their client, recently released from hospital after the events of 16 March, and the absence of two of their colleagues to try to persuade the court to suspend or postpone the hearing again.
However, the judge then refused to allow the defence lawyer to leave the courtroom. In order to justify its decision to hold the hearing, the court considered that the different parties had already agreed on the organisation of the trial.
With this conviction, the radical opponent, who came third in the 2019 presidential elections with more than 15 percent of the vote, fears the loss of his civil rights eleven months before the next presidential elections.
However, experts have told local media that the PASTEF leader is still eligible to run, although other ongoing legal cases could jeopardise his political future. Ousmane Sonko is accused of rape and death threats by masseuse who is also demanding a trial.
ODL/ac/lb/abj/APA