The two elected officials had been arrested on June 17, during a demonstration on the appeal of the opposition which had been prohibited by the authorities.
Le Monde with AFP
A court of Dakar sentenced Tuesday, June 28, to a sentence of six months in prison suspended an opposition deputy for having braved a ban on demonstrating and relaxed in the same file another deputy, in a climate of pre -electoral tension .
The opposition deputies Déthié Fall and Mame Diarra Fame were tried by the Dakar tribunal de grande instance with 82 other defendants, which were all released. They had been arrested on June 17, during a demonstration on the appeal of the opposition which had been prohibited by the authorities due in particular to “risk of unrest”.
Dakar and Casamance (South) had been the theater of clashes that day that had left three dead, according to the opposition which had quantified the number of people arrested across the country and demanded their release.
The deputy Déthié Fall “constantly admitted to having been the main organizer” of the demonstration of June 17. “It should be sentenced to six months accompanied by stay and 100,000 CFA francs [152 euros] fine,” said court president Ahmed Bâ.
“facts insufficiently established”
For deputy Mame Diarra Fame, “the facts alleged against her are not sufficiently established. It is returned to the purposes of the prosecution,” said Bâ judge. The prosecution had requested a year in prison, including six months firm for Mr. Fall and six months firm for M Fame. The court pronounced the release for their 82 co -accused due “to insufficiently established facts”.
When they arrived in court on Monday morning, deputies Fall and Fame had been acclaimed by the public who came in number to support them. The main opponent, Ousmane Sonko, was also present in the midst of several executives in his movement, noted an AFP journalist.
“I reject all these facts that I have been accused of,” said Déthié Fall. “I did not participate in the demonstration because it did not exist. We are in Senegal. The right to demonstrate is inscribed in the Constitution,” added the parliamentarian.
“I was going to see Barthélémy Dias”, mayor of Dakar and the opposition figure, “with my two children and I found myself in a van of the gendarmerie. Now, I must say if, in Senegal, The laws prohibit going to see friends, parents or acquaintances, “argued for his part Mame Diarra Fame. The two deputies claimed to have been “removed”, without “no respect” for their function.
new demonstration on Wednesday
Furthermore, an opposition mayor, Ahmed Aïdara, who heads the commune of Guédiawaye (suburb of Dakar), was sentenced on Monday to one month suspended for also having braved the prohibition of the demonstration of June 17, by the Pikine court, a neighboring town.
Tensions are growing in Senegal since the Constitutional Council confirmed the invalidation on June 3 of the national list of holders of the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition for the legislative elections of July 31. The opponent Ousmane Sonko, third of the presidential election of 2019 and candidate declared to that of 2024, and other figures of the opposition find themselves dismissed from the race.
The opposition demands the restoration of the list and threatened to prevent elections. She called for a new demonstration on Wednesday. Many civil society organizations have called on the opposition and the authorities in dialogue and restraint in recent days to avoid climbing.