2023-06-21 23:59:39
A French lawyer for Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko has filed a complaint in France and submitted a request for an investigation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Senegalese President Macky Sall for “crimes against humanity”, according to an announcement to AFP.
These procedures for “crimes against humanity”, which were revealed by AFP, also target Senegalese Interior Minister Antoine Diome, General Moussa Fall (commander of the Senegalese gendarmerie) and “112 other individuals”. They cover the period from March 2021 to June 2023.
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French lawyer Juan Branco, who is part of Mr. Sonko’s legal team, filed the complaints. The sentencing of Mr. Sonko to two years in prison in a sex scandal on June 1 sparked violent riots in Senegal. Authorities said at least 16 people died, while Amnesty International listed 23 and the opposition 30.
Macky Sall, elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, maintains the vagueness as to a possible candidacy for a third term in 2024. This hypothesis is strongly contested in the name of respect for the Constitution. In March 2021, unrest had already broken out in Senegal, also linked to Mr. Sonko, and had left at least 12 people dead. The complaint in France was filed with the crimes against humanity division of the Paris court.
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According to ongoing proceedings, these “crimes against humanity” were committed as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population”. The complaints claim that Macky Sall and Antoine Diome “ordered and supervised” the commission of these crimes “against unarmed protesters since March 2021”, referring to murder, torture and enforced disappearances.
Mr. Branco claims to have established that “50 people were killed” between March 2021 and June 2023. A press conference will be organized on Thursday in Paris by the French lawyer to present the procedures initiated. Any person or group can file a request for an investigation with the ICC prosecutor. The decision to open an investigation or not is then up to the court.
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In France, the filing of a complaint with a civil action generally results in the automatic appointment of an investigating judge, who will then have to conduct an investigation and rule on the existence or otherwise of charges against the persons affected by the procedure. In this type of process, if the appointment of a judge is accepted, it often takes several months and any questioning only very rarely occurs immediately afterwards.
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