Today, Monday, two Senegalese deputies from the Senegalese opposition were sentenced to six months in prison for beating their colleague from the majority in the National Assembly in a meeting that was not attended by two deputies who denied during the trial that they hit a woman deputy, despite to distribute photographs in which they attack the plaintiff. The defense of the two deputies believed that the trial could not take place because of their parliamentary immunity, but the court ignored this. The most famous opposition coalition, the Unity and Rally Party, is not a deputy in Senegal, but an influential religious figure. Widely shared footage shows Masata Samp slapping a parliamentarian and his colleague Mamadou Niang kicking her in the stomach in the middle of a plenary session.
Plaintiff’s lawyer, Baboukar Cissé, said during the trial that Amy Ndiaye was hospitalized after the accident and was at risk of losing her baby, adding that she had been released from the hospital but was still “in a very difficult situation.”
The two deputies, who have been imprisoned since December 15, appeared before the Dakar court. Today, Monday, they were also sentenced to pay a fine of 100,000 African francs (150 euros) each and “joint” damages and damages of five million African francs (7,625 euros) on charges of “deliberately beating and injuring » Eme. Ndiaye, representative of the presidential party.
The prosecution asked for two years in prison with forced execution.
One of the defendants’ lawyers indicated that they “will remain in prison until we file an appeal.”
