Senegalese justice this week rejected the request for the release of imprisoned candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye while the campaign for the February 25 presidential election officially begins on Sunday, the opponent's camp said.
AFP did not obtain confirmation of this refusal from several lawyers who defend him and whom it interviewed.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye submitted a request for provisional release on January 22, two days after the publication of the final list of candidates by the Constitutional Council and the validation of his candidacy, indicates a press release from the “
Diomaye president”
coalition released Wednesday evening.
But the judge on Tuesday ordered the request to be dismissed, the statement said.
“The regime persists in its desire to despoil the rights of any opponent
,” he said.
The government constantly defends itself against any interference in judicial affairs.
“For the first time in our history a candidate accused and not even tried, therefore who still keeps his political rights intact, is prevented from campaigning
,” said the press release.
The EU considers it “very important” that Bassirou Diomaye Faye campaigns
The courts rejected several previous requests for release.
The conditions in which Bassirou Diomaye Faye will defend his cause are one of the unknowns of the campaign which officially begins on Sunday.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been imprisoned since 2023. He is nevertheless seen as a possible contender for victory.
The dissolved Pastef party, of which he is the general secretary, chose him to replace its leader Ousmane Sonko, imprisoned in 2023 after more than two years of a standoff with power which gave rise to deadly unrest.
The Constitutional Council disqualified Ousmane Sonko.
The mission deployed by the European Union to Senegal to observe the presidential election deemed it
“very important”
on Wednesday that Bassirou Diomaye Faye could campaign.