Two prominent members of Senegal’s main opposition party have been released in two separate cases, their lawyers and party said on Wednesday.
El Malick Ndiaye, the National Communications Secretary of the Pastef party, was released on bail after being charged with “acts or maneuvers aimed at compromising public safety and spreading false news”, party spokesman Ousseynou Ly and lawyer Cire Cledor Ly said.
“El Malick Ndiaye is accused of an audio of which he is not the author, which he disputes and whose paternity has been claimed by an identified person”, declared the lawyer.
Birame Souleye Diop, vice-president of the party and member of parliament, was released on Wednesday after being charged on July 11 with insulting the president, in a case concerning some of his statements concerning the head of state Macky Sall, according to his lawyer Moussa Sarr.
“For the moment no trial in sight,” said the lawyer, who did not specify the conditions of the opponent’s release.
Pastef is led by Ousmane Sonko, the most determined opponent of Macky Sall, who was sentenced to two in prison in June for a morality affair.
The verdict, which made the opponent ineligible for the presidential election of February 2024, sparked the most serious riots in Senegal for years, which left sixteen people dead.
Sonko has been blocked by the security forces at his home in Dakar, “sequestered” according to him, since May 28.