Ousmane Sonko is an opposition activist who is currently imprisoned; a ruling by an ECOWAS court on Friday effectively ended his prospects of contesting in the 2024 presidential race.
The Economic Community of West African States court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, declared that the “state of Senegal did not violate any of (Sonko’s) rights” in the most recent development in the protracted legal dispute.
It happens while another case pertaining to Sonko’s potential presidential campaign is being heard by the Supreme Court in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Sonko claims the government is attempting to thwart his desire to run in Senegal’s February 2024 presidential election. Sonko and the government have been engaged in a bitter battle for more than two years.
After Sonko was removed by officials, a provincial judge last month ordered his reinstatement on the election lists.
The state will file an appeal contesting that decision with the Supreme Court.
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Sonko, who finished third in the 2019 presidential race, was given a two-year prison sentence in June after being found guilty of morally corrupting a minor.
He was found guilty in absentia despite not being present for the trial, which he condemned as a scheme to ruin his political career.
He was jailed in late July on a new set of charges that included inciting rebellion, criminal membership with a terrorist organisation, and undermining state security due to events that occurred in 2021.
His party claims that up to 30 people were killed in the clashes that followed his conviction in June, which the government claims resulted in 16 deaths.
