He will not be imprisoned.
The main Senegalese opponent, Ousmane Sonko, whose arrest caused unrest in the country, was indicted on Monday in the rape case accused of a young woman.
While denouncing a plot hatched at the head of state, the judge ordered to release him under judicial supervision, announced his lawyers.
He is expected to speak at around 3 p.m. (4 p.m. KST).
" He goes back home.
He is free, ”announced one of his advisers, Me Etienne Ddione, after the presentation of his client to the judge.
After several days of unrest, the outcome of this presentation was considered to be an important factor for the course of events, depending on whether the judge decided to place Ousmane Sonko in pre-trial detention or not.
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Coming third in the 2019 presidential election, the deputy is expected to be one of President Macky Sall's main competitors in 2024. His arrest on March 3 caused three days of clashes between young people and the police, looting and looting, in particular Auchan stores.
At least five people have died.
The press advanced Monday figures higher but difficult to verify.
In Dakar, the government deployed a strong security system on Monday, in anticipation of demonstrations during the presentation to a judge of the main opponent in power.
A crowd of dozens of sympathizers, whom the police had kept at bay until then, invaded the courthouse, exulting and throwing slogans to the glory of Ousmane Sonko.
“It is the victory of youth and of truth.
Ousmane is the future president of Senegal ”, exclaimed Amadou Kébé, a salesman who said he had come from afar to support the opponent.
Poverty accentuated by Covid-19
In this country of 16 million inhabitants usually considered an island of political stability, the arrest of Ousmane Sonko has not only angered his supporters.
It has also, according to many Senegalese, brought to its height the exasperation accumulated by the degradation, at least since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, of living conditions in an already poor country.
The collective Movement for the Defense of Democracy (M2D), comprising the opponent's party, opposition formations and protest organizations from civil society, called for a massive take to the streets from Monday and for three days .
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Faced with the risk of escalation, eight armored vehicles topped with machine guns were positioned on Independence Square, the center of the nerve center of the Plateau, seat of major institutions such as the presidency.
The latter was itself placed under high protection and its accesses barred.
Other armored vehicles were still stationed near the port and at the entrance to a popular district, the scene of clashes last week.
The embassies of the European Union and its member states, but also of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea have called for "a peaceful restoration of calm and dialogue ”.
West African states urged "calm and restraint".
