Senegal : Dakar mayor’s conviction upheld, Supreme Court upholds two-year prison sentence, including six months in prison
Senegal’s Supreme Court confirmed on Friday the conviction of the mayor of Dakar to two years in prison, including six months of actual imprisonment, for his alleged involvement in the 2011 shooting death of a person during political violence.
Despite the confirmation of his sentence, the mayor of Dakar, Mr. Dias, will not go to prison as the period of actual imprisonment was covered by his previous pretrial detention. According to his lawyer, Me Ciré Clédor Ly, although this conviction does not cost him his position as mayor of the capital, it could jeopardize his seat in the National Assembly.
The president of the Supreme Court session, Abdourahmane Diouf, stated that « the court rejects the appeal filed by Barthélémy Toye Dias », the mayor of Dakar, in the absence of the defendant, who had previously indicated that it was not necessary for him to attend the trial for events that occurred exactly twelve years ago.
In addition to the prison sentence, Mr. Dias must pay 25 million CFA francs (about 38,000 euros) to the heirs of Ndiaga Diouf, who was shot and killed during an assault on the Mermoz Sacré-Coeur town hall in 2011.
Opposition figure Mr. Dias accuses the government of reviving this case to hinder the candidacy of former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, with whom he is affiliated, in the 2024 presidential election.
Barthélémy Dias, an opposition figure, became mayor of Dakar in February 2022 and a deputy in July of the same year. He appealed to the Supreme Court after his conviction on appeal in September 2022 for «deadly assault» and « possession of weapons without authorization ». The same sentence had been handed down in the first instance in February 2017.
