The verdict just came down. The case of defamation between journalist Madiambal Diagne and judge Souleymane Teliko came to an end on Thursday 17 June 2021. The boss of Avenir Communication was sentenced to three months in prison with a sum of 5 million FCFA to be paid to the judge, Souleymane Teliko, also president of the Union of Magistrates of Senegal (UMS). In addition, this decision of the correctional court must be made public in all the newspapers of the place at the expense of the journalist.
Madiambal Diagne comes out disappointed from his trial which opposed him to judge Souleymane Teliko. The journalist, known for his acerbic columns, was found guilty of defamation and sentenced to three months in prison. In addition to paying Souleymane Teliko FCFA 5 million, Madiambal Diagne will have to pay an estimated fine of 600. 000 CFA francs.
A verdict with which the journalist does not agree at all. He qualifies the decision as unjust despite all the evidence he has presented to the judge of the Correctional Court. “It is a decision made on the basis of extrajudicial considerations. I have brought all the evidence of my assertions before the court. This decision is unfair and we will appeal. In addition, I myself asked for permission to prosecute Souleymane Téliko and I hope it will be given to me,’ he said, joined the phone by Libération online just after the verdict.
It should be recalled that the facts for which Madiambal Diagne was convicted date back to Sunday 28 May from 11am to 12pm, during the Grand-Jury program. The journalist claimed that the president of the UMS had been singled out in an official report of the European Union for having collected mission fees to go to Chad as part of the Hissein Habré affair, while he was totally taken over by the Chadian government. Moreover, revealed Madiambal Diagne, the European Union had questioned the Senegalese government about these funds allocated to the judge. These charges were deemed very serious by the president of the UMS even though the journalist persisted in holding irrefutable evidence. I’m being sued for slanderous denunciation. I have agreed to come before your jurisdiction because I am a citizen and I have confidence in the justice of my country. I have said and I assume that Magistrate Souleymane Téliko received a mission fee of 8 million 600 for a mission in Chad. He began paying back by way of a moratorium,” the journalist said at the helm of the Dakar Criminal Court on Thursday, 3 June 2021.
