Verdict of appeasement or just intimate conviction of the judge. Be that as it may, the case between Minister Mame Mbaye Niang and Ousmane Sonko, leader of the opposition party Pastef, is far from knowing its epilogue, since the date of the appeal trial is still scheduled for Monday, April 17.
Called to the bar for « defamation » by the Minister of Tourism, the leader of the Pastef party, Ousmane Sonko, had received a 2-month suspended prison sentence and 200 million CFA francs in damages to be paid to Mame Mbaye Niang. The latter, saying he was dissatisfied, had, with his lawyers, appealed to demand an increase in the sum to be paid to him by Ousmane Sonko.
At the same time, defense lawyers also came out recently to castigate and regret the appeals made by the public prosecutor and the civil party Mame Mbaye Niang.
Obviously, things did not drag on because the date of the appeal trial is set for Monday, April 17. A call that will again oppose the leader of the Pastef party, Ousmane Sonko, to Mame Mbaye Niang, the Minister of Tourism. They will thus appear in second hearing.
So, is this appeal a possibility for a harsher sentence, as we know that during a press conference, Ousmane Sonko’s lawyers harbored fears about their client’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential election?
“We very quickly understood that the position of principle of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is appealing a decision which opposes two private individuals, was simply to try to remove someone from the race (for the Presidential) because the appeal of the civil party, Mame Mbaye Niang, can only relate to his civil interests. Only the appeal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office can challenge the criminal provisions of the judgment. This results from the provisions of article 503 of the Code of Criminal Procedure”, declared Lawyer Bamba Cissé, during the press conference of the pool of defense lawyers, last Thursday.
Drawing the parallel with the Khalifa Sall case, Lawyer Cissé said: “Only this appeal can make the sentence worse. We will therefore go from two to three months and if we are at three months, Ousmane Sonko will not be a candidate. If he is sentenced to a fine greater than or equal to 200 thousand francs, he will no longer be a candidate, if the Court confirms the position of principle of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
It should be noted that during the trial of March 30, Lawyer Masokhna Kane and co had declared that the defense had prepared a series of evidence attesting to the existence of the famous report supposed to prove this supposed embezzlement. Wait and see.
By Ousmane SOW
