After several months in detention, Ousmane Sonko and his lieutenant, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, are free. Last night, in front of a crowd of activists, they left the Cap Manuel prison. According to MP Abass Fall, they are due to hold a press briefing today before leading a caravan as part of the presidential election campaign.

Ousmane Sonko and Bassirou Diomaye Faye have been free since last night. They were welcomed by a crowd of activists and other citizens who had come to satisfy their curiosity. The two opponents then got into their vehicles, forming a procession with the other cars to head towards their many supporters, who were waiting impatiently for them at Ousmane Sonko’s home.

The two leaders of the former Pastef party were reunited with their family yesterday. And the many « Patriots » and allies, especially the young people who have taken up Ousmane Sonko’s cause, were quick to flock to their leader’s home in Cité Keur Gorgui.

While they wait to be reunited with their allies in the « Diomaye Président » coalition, the two leaders of the former Pastef party are savouring their release from prison, following the promulgation yesterday by the President of the Republic, Macky Sall, of the amnesty law passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday 6 March 2024. Among other things, this law erases « all acts likely to be classified as criminal or correctional offences committed between 1 February 2021 and 25 February 2024, both in Senegal and abroad, relating to demonstrations or having political motivations ».

It also comes after the release of several hundred so-called political detainees following the events of March 2021 and June 2024. These actions were taken by the Judiciary after the Head of State instructed the Minister of Justice in the Council of Ministers to work towards calming the socio-political climate.
Abass Fall, head of the former Pastef party in Dakar, has welcomed the release from prison of these two leaders. The MP announced that Ousmane Sonko and Bassirou Diomaye Faye would be holding a press conference today in Dakar, before embarking on a caravan with their activists, party leaders and other allies of the « Diomaye President » coalition.

Ousmane Sonko was charged and placed under a committal order by the Doyen of judges of Instruction, Maham Diallo, for « calling for insurrection, undermining state security, criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise, plotting against the authority of the state, acts aimed at compromising public security and creating serious political unrest and theft ».

For his part, his lieutenant, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, now a presidential candidate, was also charged with « contempt of court » and then imprisoned, before being notified that he had been charged with almost all the offences for which his leader, Ousmane Sonko, is being prosecuted.

By Ousmane SOW