The public prosecutor’s office on Wednesday demanded five years in prison against the current mayor of Dakar, Barthélémy Dias, tried on appeal for the death of a man shot and killed in 2011 in a context of political violence.
The appeal trial of Barthélémy Dias, postponed several times in recent years, was eagerly awaited because of its political implications. Mr. Dias, a fierce opponent of power, took the eminent functions of mayor of the capital on February 17 on behalf of a national coalition led by Ousmane Sonko, a declared presidential candidate in 2024.
“I am being prosecuted for political reasons, not for legal reasons,” repeated Mr. Dias at the helm.
A firm five-year sentence would seriously jeopardize his political career. She would fear a violent reaction from her supporters.
Before him, two other opponents of President Macky Sall, the former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall (unrelated) and the former minister Karim Wade, son of a former president, saw their trajectory interrupted by legal troubles these last years. Ousmane Sonko, meanwhile, has been under investigation for alleged rape since 2021. All shout at the conspiracy hatched by the power. Power defends itself against any instrumentalization of justice.
Mr. Dias, 47, tried with a dozen others at the time, was sentenced in 2017 to two years in prison, including six months, for “death blow” in 2011 to Ndiaga Diouf, a wrestler described by the opposition as a thug of the regime.
He had been shot dead during the assault on the town hall of Mermoz Sacré-Coeur, one of the municipalities constituting the capital of which Mr. Dias was then mayor, by supposed sympathizers of the Senegalese Democratic Party, in power. The violence occurred amid growing protests against incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade’s bid for a third term in 2012.
Mr. Dias appealed “to clear (his) honor”, he repeated on Wednesday. He pleaded self-defense, and denied having been the only one to shoot.
The assailants “did not come to give me an invitation for a birthday. I saw death”, he said.
The Advocate General, Fatou Oumar Ndiaye, requested five years against him, and two years against two of his collaborators.
“There is no excuse of provocation or self-defense,” she said.
The court adjourned for May 18.