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On Thursday, a criminal court in Dakar sentenced Senegalese rival Ousmane Sonko, candidate for the 2024 presidential election, to two years in prison for “young lewdness”, and acquitted him for rape.
The criminal department also sentenced Sonko’s accomplice, Ndèye Khady Ndiaye, the owner of the salon where Sonko was accused of repeatedly abusing an employee, to two years in prison.
“Youth corruption,” which involves poaching or encouraging depraved behavior by young people under the age of 21, is an offense under Senegalese law, said lawyer Ousmane Thiam, a lawyer present at the trial. , not a crime like rape. AFP.
Mr Sonko would have been disenfranchised if he had been convicted in absentia of a crime such as rape.
However, the reclassification of the offense as a misdemeanor under the electoral code appears to maintain the threat of Mr Sonko’s disqualification and his ability to run for president in 2024.
