Dakar – A Senegal court on Tuesday handed an opposition MP a six-month suspended prison sentence for defying a ban on protests in the tense run-up to legislative elections and released another lawmaker and 82 other defendants tried in the same case.
Fall “constantly acknowledged having been the main organiser” of the demonstration, court president Ahmed Ba said, handing him a six-month suspended sentence and fine of 100,000 CFA francs ($160).
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The judge dismissed the case against Fame, saying the facts against her had not been sufficiently established.
Ba also acquitted the other 82 co-defendants due to “insufficiently established facts” at the end of the trial, which lasted more than 14 hours, ending early Tuesday.
Supporters, including main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, had cheered the defendants as they arrived in court Monday morning.
“I reject all these facts of which I am accused,” said Fall. “We are in Senegal the right to demonstrate is enshrined in the constitution.”
Fellow legislator Fame said she was arrested after she and her two children went to see opposition figures and Dakar mayor Barthelemy Dias.
“Tell me if in Senegal the laws prohibit going to see friends, relatives or acquaintances,” she said.
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The two MPs accused law enforcement of “kidnapping” them.
Tensions have been rising since Senegal’s highest court on June 3 upheld the ban on the candidates’ list.
The bar blocked Sonko, a presidential hopeful, from contesting the July 31 election.
The opposition, which has called for fresh demonstrations on Wednesday, has threatened to prevent the vote from taking place if the list is not reinstated.
Civil society groups have called for dialogue and restraint.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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