Jan. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Two deputies from the Unity and Concentration Party (PUR), Massata Samb and Mamadou Niang, have been sentenced to six months in prison for assaulting a pregnant deputy last December during a session in the Senegalese Parliament in which the budgets for 2023.
The Senegalese Justice has also ordered the defendants to pay five million CF francs (7,600 euros) in damages to the deputy Amy Ndiaye Gniby, from the ruling Benno Book Yaakar (BBY) coalition, as reported by the news portal Le Soleil.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested a two-year prison sentence for the two parliamentarians, who are part of PUR, a party that is part of the Yewwi Askan Wi (Free the People) coalition, led by the main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko.
The prosecutor in charge of the case assured that the National Assembly could not be “a place where the elected representatives of the people put on a show”, and asked the judge to protect the deputy, whose legal team requested compensation of 500 million CF francs.
The events occurred on December 1, when Samb slapped Ndiaye Gniby, who responded by throwing a chair at him to repel the attack. Following that, Niang kicked him in the stomach after he had fallen to the ground.
Political tensions in Senegal have been on the rise since 2021 after the arrest of Sonko, accused of rape and death threats. His arrest led to anti-government protests that left at least thirteen dead and hundreds injured.
On July 31, the country held a legislature in which the government coalition lost its absolute majority by obtaining 82 of the 165 seats in Parliament, amid opposition criticism against Senegalese President Macky Sall, at the head of the BBY coalition, made up of four parties.
