Two deputies from the Senegalese opposition were sentenced this Monday to six months in prison for beating a colleague from the majority in the National Assembly.
On December 1, MP Massata Samb attacked his colleague Amy Ndiaye from the podium for statements she had made against Moustapha Sy, the leader of a party that is a member of the main opposition coalition, the Unity and Gathering Party (PUR), who is not a deputy but is an influential marabout in Senegal.
slap and kick
It is widely perceived that footage that has been circulating on loop shows Massata Samb slapping the MP and his colleague Mamadou Niang kicking him in the stomach, in the middle of a public session.
Amy Ndiaye was hospitalized after the incident and is at risk of losing the baby she is carrying, her lawyer, Me Baboucar Cissé, said during the trial. She has been released from the hospital, but she remains “in an extremely difficult situation,” she added.
The two parliamentarians, imprisoned since December 15, were tried on December 19 by the Dakar court for flagrante delicto.
He also ordered them on Monday to pay a fine of 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros) each, and “joint” compensation of 5 million CFA francs (7,625 euros) for “deliberate assault and assault” on Amy Ndiaye, a member of the presidential party. . The prosecution had required two firm years.
The two deputies will appeal
Massata Samb and Mamadou Niang were not present Monday when the sentence was read. “They will stay in prison until we appeal,” said one of their lawyers, Abdy Nar Ndiaye. Despite the images, they had denied beating their colleague during the trial.
The defense of the two deputies had argued that the trial could not be held given the parliamentary immunity of their clients, but the court ignored it.
The incident was seen as a symptom of tensions between the opposition and the majority, of violence against women but also of the untouchable status of marabouts.
The presidential field lost the absolute majority it had after the legislative elections in July that gave the Assembly a virtual balance of power in a tense political context. President Macky Sall, elected in 2012 for seven years and re-elected in 2019 for five years, remains silent about his intentions for the 2024 presidential elections.
Source: BFM TV
