The Senegalese should know on Thursday the fate reserved by the judges for the opponent Ousmane Sonko accused of rape, a crucial moment in a case that captivates opinion and raises tension in view of the presidential election of 2024.
A criminal chamber in Dakar should say, unless postponed, whether it recognizes Ousmane Sonko, declared presidential candidate in 2024 and President Macky Sall's most restive opponent, guilty or not of rapes committed between 2020 and 2021 on a masseuse of a beauty salon in the capital, and death threats.
The prosecutor demanded against the third presidential candidate of 2019 and president of the Pastef party ten years in prison for rape, or at least five years in prison for "corruption of youth".
Mr. Sonko, who did not attend the trial and had taken refuge in the south of the country, has not stopped protesting his innocence and shouting at a plot hatched by the president, who denies it.
The stakes are as much criminal as political. Mr. Sonko, 48, risks losing his eligibility, already compromised by a recent six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation against a minister.
Since February 2021, when the alleged rape case hit the headlines, Mr. Sonko has been engaged in what some call a Mortal Kombat, named after a video game, for his judicial and political survival and against Mr. Sall.
About 20 civilians have been killed since 2021 in unrest largely linked to his situation. The power and the camp of Mr. Sonko reject the fault.
Senegal, a rare center of stability in a troubled region without being a stranger to political tumult, experienced new clashes between supporters of Mr. Sonko and security forces around his trial and then his return from the south of the country to Dakar on Friday. .
Mr. Sonko has drained crowds of young people. But he was arrested on Sunday and forcibly returned to his home in the capital where he is blocked by a massive police deployment. The security forces have since repelled, with tear gas or even arrests, any attempt to approach him.
In the early hours of Tuesday, he declared himself "sequestered" and called on the Senegalese to demonstrate "massively".
Young people attacked the houses of members of the presidential camp and ransacked them. Reprisals were carried out against the property of members of the opposition and of Mr. Sonko's party.
The damage is a far cry from what it was in 2021 shortly after the scandal broke, when Mr. Sonko was arrested on the way to court where he was going in procession to the summons of the judge.
The sovereignist and pan-Africanist discourse of Mr. Sonko, his diatribes against "the state mafia", multinationals and the economic and political influence exercised according to him by the former colonial power France have earned him strong support among the under 20s. who represent half of the population and are hungry for work and opportunities.
The presidential camp accuses Mr. Sonko of using the street for a private matter, and of feeding an insurrectionary project.
President Sall on Wednesday promised firmness in the face of violence by opening a "national dialogue" supposed to ease these tensions.
Apart from the fate of Mr. Sonko, another divisive factor is the vagueness maintained by Mr. Sall on whether or not he will run for a third term.
The aftermath of the verdict against Mr. Sonko is bathed in uncertainty. It is not known if justice would have Mr. Sonko arrested immediately in the event of conviction and if he would manage to mobilize the crowds. Authorities have made hundreds of arrests of his supporters in recent months.
The "dialogue" initiated by the president has however driven a wedge into the opposition front. And a certain number of Senegalese express their weariness of a soap opera with twists and turns which regularly freezes activity.
06/01/2023 04:07:03 - Dakar (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
