SENEGAL’S public prosecutor urged the judges overseeing the rape trial of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to deliver a guilty verdict and impose a 10-year prison sentence, a move that could potentially prevent him from running for president in the upcoming elections next year. The verdict is scheduled to be announced on June 1.
Ousmane Sonko, 48, stands accused of sexually assaulting and issuing death threats to a woman employed at a massage parlour in 2021. Sonko vehemently denies the allegations and has boycotted the court proceedings. Known for his popularity among the youth, Sonko claims that the legal proceedings against him are a deliberate strategy to bar him from participating in the February 2024 polls. Earlier this month, he received a suspended prison sentence in a separate defamation case, which he is currently appealing.
Since Sonko’s initial detention on rape charges in 2021, Senegal has witnessed violent protests. His supporters have consistently taken to the streets during his court appearances, but no disturbances occurred during the resumption of the rape trial in Sonko’s absence on Tuesday.
During the trial, testimony continued late into the night, featuring Sonko’s accuser, the former owner of the massage parlour, Khady Ndiaye, and others. The accuser, dressed in red, provided a detailed account of the alleged assault, asserting that she had been raped on five separate occasions. The doctor who examined her on the night of the incident claimed to have found traces of sperm.
Khady Ndiaye, accused of complicity in the matter, denied any involvement of her former employees in sexual acts.
As Sonko was absent, his lawyers were unable to present his defence, and he would be unable to appeal the verdict if convicted.
In the early hours of the morning, at 3 a.m., the public prosecutor recommended a 10-year prison sentence for rape or a five-year term for moral corruption, along with a fine exceeding $3,300 if the rape charge is not upheld. The court adjourned for deliberation following the prosecutor’s statement.
Neither Sonko nor his party have responded to the proposed sentence thus far.
President Macky Sall and his government have repeatedly refuted Sonko’s allegations that the trials are politically motivated. Sall, 61, first elected in 2012, secured a second term in the 2019 presidential election, in which Sonko finished third. Although a constitutional reform implemented in 2016 limits presidential terms to two, concerns have arisen that Sall may argue that the reform resets his presidential mandate, potentially allowing him to seek re-election.
