DAKAR, Senegal
The trial of Senegal
opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on rape charges adjourned early Wednesday, with
the prosecutor calling for a 10-year jail term in a case that has sparked
tensions in the West African country. Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko
Highly popular among young people, Sonko has
branded the trial a political plot aimed at scuttling his bid for the 2024
presidency.
A decision is expected to be
handed down on June 1, the president of the criminal court said after the
latest hearing lasted into the early hours of Wednesday.
The trial resumed Tuesday
after the court rejected pleas by Sonko and his co-accused for an adjournment
after he failed for a second time running to attend the legal showdown.
Sonko has been charged
with rape and
making death threats against an employee of a beauty salon in Dakar.
Sonko, 48, has said he went to
the salon for a massage for chronic back pain and denies any assault.
Complainant Adji Sarr
maintained her accusations in Tuesday's hearing, saying she had been abused
five times by Sonko. She also said she had received death threats.
Sonko's trial opened on May 16
but was immediately adjourned until May 23 after he failed to
attend.
Saying he feared for his
safety, Sonko had said he would not appear in court without state guarantees
for his personal safety.
Sonko is believed to be in the
southern city of Ziguinchor, several hundred kilometres (miles) from Dakar,
where he is mayor.
If convicted, Sonko risks
being ineligible to run.
Sonko, president of the
PASTEF-Patriots party, came in third in the 2019 election against
incumbent Macky Sall.
Senegal is
traditionally a beacon of stability in troubled West Africa, but in recent
years has been buffeted by turbulence that has at times turned deadly.
When Sonko was arrested in 2021, several days of protests left at least 12
people dead.
Three other people died during
clashes between Sonko supporters and police ahead of the start of proceedings
on May 16.
Political tensions have also
been stoked by Sall's refusal to rule out running for a third term as
president, a move his opponents say would be unconstitutional.
Sall was elected in 2012, when
the presidential term was seven years, and re-elected in 2019, when the mandate
was reduced to five years.
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