Pro-Uslamic Sonko demonstrations: 20 people placed under detention order, 22 others freed

20 people among the 42 arrested last Monday near the home of MP Ousmane Sonko, in Dakar, were charged and placed under a committal order by the Dean of Investigating Judges, Thursday, February 11.

The magistrate held against them the charges of criminal association, participation in an insurgent demonstration, arson, violence and assault on officers in the performance of their duties, among others. On the other hand, 22 other individuals were not charged.

These demonstrators, arrested by the police for having ransacked everything in their path, were protesting against the summons by the Research Section of the Deputy Ousmane Sonko, leader of the political party Pastef-Les Patriotes, accused of rape by a masseuse named A. Sarr. Among the suspects, some acknowledged the facts, others refuted them.

Arrested for arson, Mr. Ndoye, who set fire to a vehicle of the Programme of Agricultural and Community Domains (Prodac), first denied the facts, before recognising them in the face of images from the surveillance cameras which showed him pouring petrol and setting fire to the car. In view of the seriousness of his act, Mr Ndoye could appear before the Criminal Division.