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A court docket in Senegal sentenced the nation’s main opposition determine to 2 years in jail on Thursday after discovering him responsible of “corrupting youth,” prompting scores of protesters to take to the streets, and conflict with safety forces all through the nation.
The ruling, which for now bars him from working in future elections, throws the West African nation’s political future into uncertainty lower than a yr earlier than its subsequent presidential contest.
The opposition chief, Ousmane Sonko, was accused of raping a therapeutic massage parlor’s worker in Dakar, the capital, and issuing demise threats in opposition to her. The court docket acquitted him of these fees, which he had denied and denounced as an try by Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, to sideline him.
However the conviction in absentia of “corrupting youth” — a cost referring to an accusation that Mr. Sonko had a sexual relationship with the therapeutic massage parlor employee, who was underneath 21 on the time — renders him ineligible to run within the election.
Mr. Sonko can not enchantment as a result of he didn’t seem in court docket for the hearings or the decision, citing threats to his security. His destiny remained unclear as of Thursday, however Ismaïla Madior Fall, Senegal’s justice minister, mentioned he could possibly be arrested at any time.
One in all Mr. Sonko’s legal professionals, Bamba Cissé, mentioned in a cellphone interview that Mr. Sonko wouldn’t give up “as a result of we’re in opposition to a judiciary system perverted by political leaders.” He continued: “For 2 years, Senegal has been instructed that Mr. Sonko was concerned in a rape affair. In the present day, we’ve got the proof that it was a plot.”
Clashes erupted between protesters and safety forces in Senegal’s largest cities. In Dakar, fires broke out in a number of neighborhoods and on the principal college, the place younger demonstrators erected barricades and threw stones on the police, who responded with tear fuel. In Rufisque, close to the capital, a practice station was burned down. Protests additionally broke out on the principle freeway resulting in the capital; in Mbour, a significant hub on Senegal’s coast; in Ziguinchor, the town the place Mr. Sonko is the present mayor; and in different places.
Senegal, a rustic of 17 million, has lengthy been hailed as a mannequin of political pluralism in West Africa, a area recognized for coups and growing older leaders clinging to energy. Elections have been principally peaceable for the reason that nation grew to become impartial from France in 1960. The USA and European nations, in addition to China, maintain Senegal as one in all their most dependable companions in West Africa.
But the battle across the political way forward for Mr. Sonko, 48, whose fiery rhetoric has made him fashionable amongst younger Senegalese, has turn out to be the president’s largest problem. Within the coming months, it may result in probably the most critical check confronted by Senegalese democracy in additional than a decade, analysts say.
“Senegal finds itself in a thick fog, with numerous uncertainties,” mentioned Alioune Tine, a rights professional and founding father of the AfrikaJom Middle, a Dakar-based analysis group. “It has become a police state and, more and more, an authoritarian one.”
There is no such thing as a public proof that Mr. Sonko’s case has been politically motivated, however some lecturers, human rights observers and most opponents of Mr. Sall have raised questions concerning the lack of concrete proof and the cruel remedy of Mr. Sonko all through the proceedings. They’ve additionally in recent times warned of a gentle erosion of democratic norms as a number of political opponents have been jailed and journalists arrested.
In current months, law enforcement officials have been posted at visitors circles in Dakar; momentary bans on bikes to stop fast gatherings of protesters have turn out to be a fixture within the capital; and demonstrators have confronted a heavy-handed response from safety forces, with clashes at instances turning lethal. At the very least one particular person died throughout clashes in southern Senegal on Thursday. Protesters have additionally focused the police, attacked fuel stations and, this week, burned the home of Mr. Sall’s chief of workers.
Mr. Fall, the justice minister, instructed journalists after the decision on Thursday that the judiciary system had remained impartial all through the proceedings. He justified the safety forces’ heavy-handed response by the truth that Mr. Sonko had referred to as for an rebellion.
Calling Senegal “an island of stability” in a troubled area stricken by a number of safety challenges, Mr. Fall mentioned, “This stability have to be maintained, regardless of the fee.”
Riot law enforcement officials had been positioned close to Mr. Sonko’s home in Dakar on Thursday, blocking entry. Adama Ndiaye, a supporter of Mr. Sonko’s who unsuccessfully tried to method his residence, mentioned it was a bleak day for Senegal.
“The ‘corrupting youth’ cost comes out of nowhere; it’s pure injustice,” mentioned Mr. Ndiaye, a 35-year-old automotive salesman who mentioned he was on his technique to a Dakar neighborhood the place protests had been going down.
Opponents of Mr. Sall have accused his authorities of repeatedly sidelining key opposition leaders, together with Mr. Sonko, who was barred by Senegal’s constitutional council from working in final yr’s parliamentary elections. Dozens of members of his get together have been jailed or positioned underneath digital surveillance. Present and former Dakar mayors had been additionally prohibited from working within the 2019 presidential election due to convictions for embezzlement.
At a listening to final month, Mr. Sonko’s accuser mentioned he had assaulted her 5 instances at a therapeutic massage parlor between late 2020 and February 2021, and had despatched her demise threats. The New York Occasions doesn’t routinely identify accusers in rape circumstances, however Mr. Sonko’s accuser, Adji Sarr, has been publicly recognized and has given information interviews. She has been underneath police safety since 2021.
Gender-based violence has been lowering in Senegal in recent times; it stays widespread, although not often talked about. About 30 p.c of ladies ages 15 to 49 have skilled bodily or sexual violence, in line with a demographic and well being survey launched in 2017, with the best charge, 34 p.c, amongst these ages 25 to 29. Greater than two-thirds by no means spoke about it or sought assist.
At the same time as Ms. Sarr detailed final week the assaults she mentioned she had confronted, Senegalese newspapers revealed headlines with lewd innuendos, evaluating her testimony to pornography.
Marième Cissé, an professional on gender points, mentioned Senegalese society nonetheless blamed victims of sexual violence. The Sonko trial, she added, gave many Senegalese the impression {that a} crime as critical as rape had been used for political functions.
“That instrumentalization has minimized the seriousness of the accusation,” mentioned Ms. Cissé, a researcher with the Dakar-based Wathi analysis group. “It may discourage ladies from speaking concerning the abuse they could face.”
Many Senegalese say they merely don’t consider the accuser.
Moussa Sané, a 46-year-old businessman who attended the court docket session on Thursday, mentioned that he was not a Sonko supporter however that the decision confirmed the trial’s political motive. “The federal government is attempting its greatest to stop Sonko from working within the subsequent election,” he mentioned.
Till Thursday, Mr. Sonko had been broadly thought to be Mr. Sall’s strongest challenger within the election, though Mr. Sall has not mentioned whether or not he’ll run.
Most authorized specialists say the Senegalese Structure prevents Mr. Sall from working: It limits presidents to 2 five-year phrases, and Mr. Sall is ready to finish his second in February. However he argues {that a} constitutional reform adopted in 2016 reset the clock to zero and provides him the suitable to hunt one other time period.
“With Sonko convicted, Macky Sall has made him a political martyr,” mentioned Mr. Tine, the rights professional. “And with this third-term subject, he has created one other downside for himself.”
Mady Camara contributed reporting.
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