Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz pleaded not guilty on Thursday to the alleged acts of illicit enrichment on which he began to be questioned by a court responsible for trying him at the same time as ten other personalities.
“
These accusations are baseless and you have no proof of all this
,” said Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who led this pivotal country between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa from 2008 to 2019.
Abuse of power
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, 66, has been on trial since January 25 by a court in Nouakchott for having abused his power to amass an immense fortune.
He responds with two former Prime Ministers, former ministers and businessmen of the heads of "
illicit enrichment
", "
abuse of functions
", "
influence peddling
" or "
laundering
".
He has always maintained his innocence, and maintained this line of defense when the court resumed hearings Thursday after more than two weeks of suspension and that it read out the charges against him.
"
I am the victim of a conspiracy by those I fought against
" during his presidency, he said.
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He again invoked the Constitution, which he said prohibits trying a president for acts committed in the exercise of his functions.
"
Your court has no jurisdiction to try me
," he said before the court began to hear witnesses.
Since its opening on January 25, the trial has boiled down to quibbles over the jurisdiction of the court, whether or not Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and his 10 co-accused and the rights of the defense should be kept in detention.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, general brought to power by a putsch in 2008 then elected president in 2009 and re-elected in 2014, is one of the rare former heads of state to have to account for the way in which he enriched himself in the power.
His peers judged by national or international justice are mainly for violent crimes.
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