An immediate lifting of the blockade of Ousman Sonko’s house. This is what the Bar Association demands. In a press release, the Bar suggests that “the restrictions of rights and freedoms must be done in accordance with the rules”.T
he Bar Association called for the “immediate removal of any obstacle likely to hinder the free exercise of the ministry, of the lawyer and/or the free access of any citizen, who feels the need, to a lawyer”. The Order recalled, in a press release, that “the restrictions of rights and freedoms must be done in compliance with the rules”. The press release alludes to the situation that Ousmane Sonko is currently experiencing. Indeed, arrested in Koungheul while he was in the middle of a caravan, Ousmane Sonko was forcibly transported to Dakar by the Defense and Security Forces. Since then, he has been blocked at home in the Cité Keur Gorgui, and all the roads leading to his home heavily equipped with intransigent police forces in the application of the instructions of “the hierarchy”.
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His lawyers are banned from his home. “Some of the them who sought to meet their client were prevented from doing so by the Defense and Security Forces, some of them even having been fired upon with tear gas canisters, although their status was known and no circumstances justified such reactions. “, denounced the Bar Association. To this end, underlined the Order, « accessing his client or meeting his lawyer without hindrance or fear are, for the lawyer and for the citizen, whatever his rank or social category, an ordinary requirement which enshrines a right fundamental ».
The counsels of the leader of the Pastef party introduced a « liberty referral » on June 9 asking the High Court to order « urgently » the lifting of the barriers around their client’s house, as well as the withdrawal of the police.
Sonko’s defense wants the return of the his personal effects seized during his arrest and transport to his home.
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It is a Toyota vehicle, his telephones, a revolver, a license to carry a weapon, a Mac book pro and the sum of two million CFA francs.
The Minister of the Interior explained that Ousmane Sonko called for an insurrection and, therefore, threatened state security, in addition to being the organizer of demonstrations on public roads without authorization. It is in a logic of maintaining order that his house was barricaded, said Antoine Diome during a press conference.
He explained that the measure is gradual and, the moment the threat is dissipated, the barricades will be removed.
By Malick GAYE / mgaye@lequotidien.sn
- Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH