Senegalese authorities release two prominent opponents after several days in detention

One of them is on provisional release after being charged

July 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Senegalese authorities have released the prominent opponents Birame Souleye Diop and El Malick Ndiaye on Wednesday, although the latter has been charged and is therefore on provisional release.

“Malick Ndiaye testified this afternoon by the investigating judge of the first cabinet (of the Dakar High Court), and was later charged. He is being prosecuted for acts or maneuvers likely to compromise public safety and spreading false news “, says a note from the defendant’s lawyer quoted by the Senegalese news agency APS.

The same lawyer has reported on the release of Diop, who was arrested on July 11 for “offenses” against the president and “acts that compromise social peace”, after declaring that the president, Macky Sall, could back down on his decision not to run for a controversial third term in 2024.

For his part, Ndiaye, National Secretary for Communication of the Senegalese Patriots Africans for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) opposition party, was arrested on July 16 without initially knowing the reasons.

This same weekend, the Senegalese authorities opened a judicial investigation and issued an arrest warrant against the lawyer of the opposition leader Osumane Sonko, the lawyer Juan Branco, who last month accused the government of the African country of committing crimes against humanity. during his very violent repression of the protests for the release of the detained dissident.

Sonko, who has been chosen as the Pastef party’s candidate for the 2024 presidential elections, has been under house arrest in recent months at his home in the Keur Gorgui neighborhood of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. The opponent has spent years denouncing that he is being the victim of political persecution by order of the president of the country, Macky Sall, which has resulted in several cases against him.

The opposition has denounced on several occasions that all this violence was part of a plan orchestrated by Sall to consolidate his control over the country with a view to his possible candidacy for a controversial third term not contemplated by the Constitution. However, Sall ended up publicly renouncing that possibility.