Senegal: The mayor of Dakar sulks his lawsuit and declares himself a presidential candidate of 2019

Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, convicted of embezzling public funds, has decided to boycott his appeal to protest the "violation of his rights" and will run for president in 2019, his defense said on Thursday. and the interested party.

The mayor of Dakar was absent Thursday of the hearing of the Court of Appeal of Dakar, after his conviction in first instance in March to five years of prison for embezzlement of public funds, according to one of his lawyers.

"We wrote yesterday (Wednesday) to the judicial authorities and the prison administration" to mean "the right of our client not to appear", told AFP Seydou Diagne, the Collective of Mr. Sall's Defense

"Our decision is irrevocable and it is to protest the violations of our client's rights to a fair trial and his arbitrary detention," said Diagne.

The defense of the mayor of Dakar has been boycotting the trial since Wednesday. It reproaches the Senegalese justice not to apply a judgment issued on June 29 by a Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

This Community court considered that the rights of the mayor of Dakar, in particular to the presumption of innocence and to a fair trial, "were violated" and considered "arbitrary" his detention between the validation in August 2017 of his election as deputy, and the lifting of its parliamentary immunity in November.

According to the defense, this judgment, which also condemns the Senegalese state to reparations of 35 million FCFA (about 53,000 euros) is binding on Senegalese justice and annul the sentence. She had presented, on the basis of this decision, a request for "release" of Mr. Sall, rejected by the court.

The mayor of Dakar also announced Thursday his candidacy for the presidential election of 2019 "to straighten our dear country, "he said in a statement.

He invites the Senegalese to "refuse that the only choice given to them is that of the perpetuation of the current regime", led by President Macky Sall, elected in 2012 for seven years.

Khalifa Sall, tried with seven of its employees, was convicted in first instance for "fraud on public funds" and "forgery in writing", for the diversion of about 2.5 million euros collected between 2011 and 2015 on the coffers of the City of Dakar.

Mayor of Dakar since 2009, Khalifa Sall, dissident of the Socialist Party (PS) and the presidential majority, claims that the legal proceedings against him are aimed at preventing him from running for president in 2019 , which deny the leaders of the majority.