Home JUSTICE SENEGAL: Assane Diouf released, her lawyer will refer to ECOWAS

SENEGAL: Assane Diouf released, her lawyer will refer to ECOWAS

0
Maître Ciré Clédor Ly

Assane Diouf has been breathing the air of freedom since Thursday 28 January after eight months behind bars. The man known as the public insult N°1 was sentenced to three months in prison for insulting law enforcement officers in the performance of their duties. But his lawyer doesn’t intend to stop there. Considering that his client has suffered an injustice, he does not exclude to refer the international courts in particular the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The Court of Appeal of Dakar rendered its verdict on Thursday 28 January in the Assane Diouf case. He was found guilty of the offence of insulting police officers in the performance of their duties and sentenced to three months in prison when he spent eight months in detention. He was discharged from all other charges, including appeal to an armed assembly not followed by effect and offence of rebellion. This is deplored by his lawyer Ciré Clédor Ly who pushed a real blow after the release of his client.

“Today, with all the offences in the first place, we held that contempt. As a lawyer, I note that no police officer has been heard by the investigating judge to confirm the existence of this contempt or, in any case, to designate himself as a victim. During the trial, the Public Prosecutor did not venture to summon the agents who made the arrest. So, in reality, they are agents who have always been ghostly for the whole procedure,” he denounces. 

He says that he is not even shocked by this, because in any event, we had to lend Assane Diouf comments and acts that the court considers were not accurate. Instead, he believes that the judicial system must be reformed. “We have to audit the work of the Public Prosecutor since he has been there and that of the investigating judge and some investigating offices,” he says.

À voir aussi  [CULTURE-BOOK] – Boubacar Boris Diop: The last column of African literature?

According to Ciré Clédor Ly, we must ask ourselves why people are kept in prison in violation of the principles of the presumption of innocence. “The judicial system is sick, it is on a slope and the rule of law is crumbling and there are abuses of qualifications, abuses of procedures,” he said before regretting: “Today everyone is silent in the face of the excesses of justice, tomorrow everyone will be a victim”.

As for his client, he considers that he spent almost 08 months in detention for nothing.The offence that was introduced into the proceedings to be able to circumvent the law that did not allow him to be detained was provocation to an armed assembly that did not take effect. He was released and exonerated for that because, in fact, the lawyer said, the words he was given were false. And the court proceedings, the hearing, and the viewing of the tape allowed the judge to make a religion that this offence did not exist and that it was introduced just to keep him in prison. He was also whitewashed for rebellion because everyone witnessed his arrest. “He was the victim in this case,” Ciré Clédor Ly said.

Therefore, the lawyer does not intend to stop there, he announces that he will seize the international jurisdictions. “My client is out of prison. An appeal depends on him. I am against convictions. We’ll go to ECOWAS, and they’ll tell us why he was kept for eight months for offences that don’t exist. I am prepared to continue the fight, not for Assane Diouf, but because they are principled battles.”

       

Leave a Reply