He refused to be heard on the merits of the case and denied the Dean of Judges any legitimacy to judge him, because he found him biased since his appointment. This means that Ousmane Sonko’s face-to-face with Maham Oumar Diallo raised even more questions than it shed light.The face-to-face, which had kept the country in suspense for days, finally took place yesterday in peace.At the end of his hearing with the Dean of Judges, OusmaneSonko posted on Facebook that his « hearing ended and went very, very well ».In front of journalists, one of the members of his pool of lawyers, Me BambaCissé, added: « The case is empty, our client has answered all the questions and given all the evidence at his disposal.We are waiting for the case to be dismissed.There is nothing that can incriminate him. »The optimism and serenity that these statements want to convey would seem to suggest that the president of Pastef had brilliantly defended himself from the accusations of multiple rape and death threats made against him by MsAdjiSarr, by responding foot to foot to all the incriminations.The fact that the hearing did not drag on, seemed to corroborate the thesis of a file quickly closed.However, other people, very well informed of what happened yesterday in the office of Judge MahamOumarDiallo, tell a very different story.According to these people, OusmaneSonko adopted the strategy of silence and mistrust in the face of the judge.To the questions that the latter put to him, the leader of the Pastef replied that he was not going to answer, because he considered him as « a judge under orders, especially appointed to this post to hear this case ».And consequently, he OusmaneSonkodid not grant him any legitimacy.He added that the entire prosecution file was false, with falsified elements, commissioned by « the Palace ».And he did not fail to add that the investigating judge as well as the public prosecutor should be careful because the « power of Macky was coming to an end, the day that he, OusmaneSonko, arrives at the helm of affairs, he will deal with all those who have dipped in this plot » against his person.Following this, the Senior Judge informed Sonko that sperm was taken from the lady AdjiSarr during her complaint, and asked him, in order to facilitate the administration of justice, if he would agree to a blood test for the purpose of DNA analysis.To which the politician replied forcefully and three times: « No, no and no! »After this exchange, the minutes of the hearing were read to him, which he was asked to sign.This shows that, far from reflecting the serenity that the respondent and his lawyers would like to convey, the exchange in the office of the Dean of Judges rather leaves a sentiment of perplexity.Indeed, if he was not willing to respond to the questions of the judge whose legitimacy he did not recognise, why did OusmaneSonko give the theory that he was in a hurry to be heard?In fact, he even told journalists attending one of his monologues.His pool of communicators had even gone so far as to say in recent days that they had « lobbied to be heard ».We do not seek to be heard by a judge to tell him that we deny his power to judge us.It would have been enough for him to do it in front of the cameras of JotnaTv, his TV, or on Facebook, and he would have saved many people a lot of cold sweats.Moreover, even if it means not wanting to answer the questions of the judges, if, as he and his incense bearers claim, this whole affair would be nothing but a masquerade ready to collapse at the slightest breath of truth, why forcefully refuse a DNA analysis?There is no better evidence to date to prove that one is falsely accused of rape than to prove that the offending semen is not one’s own.Although, on the other hand, it would be difficult to explain, on the part of a patient who is supposedly seeking back treatment, how his sperm could have ended up in the vagina of a professional masseuse!By Mohamed GUEYE / mgueye@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE