Two Dead In Senegal Protests After Detention Of Opposition Figure Sonko

Dakar, Aug 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Aug, 2023 ) :Two people were killed Monday in Ziguinchor in southern Senegal in protests following the indictment and detention of opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, a presidential candidate for the 2024 election, the interior ministry said.

The "two lifeless male bodies" were discovered in Ziguinchor, the city where Sonko is mayor, the ministry said in a statement.

It called on the population to remain calm and said that "all measures have been taken to preserve peace and tranquility in the country".

Sonko on Monday was charged with fomenting insurrection and placed in custody.

President Macky Sall's fiercest critic, Sonko has faced a string of legal woes, which he claims have been designed to keep him out of politics and jeopardize his participation in the February 20204 presidential election.

In June, he was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison on a moral corruption case which sparked clashes that left 16 dead, according to the government, and around 30, according to Sonko's PASTEF party.

In another case, an appeals court in May gave him a six-month suspended sentence.

He has not exhausted his appeals to the Supreme Court in this case.