Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko has said he will no longer respond to court summonses without guarantees for his safety, a day before his appeal in a defamation case begins.
Sonko — who came third in the 2019 presidential election and is running again in 2024 — is facing two court cases that could have a bearing on his candidacy.
He was handed a suspended sentence and a hefty fine in March for defaming the tourism minister, with a court due to take up his appeal of that judgment today.
He is also facing trial later this month for alleged “rape and death threats” over a complaint filed by an employee at a beauty salon where he went for a massage.
“It is no longer justice, it is judicial banditry, and that is why I made the decision, still within the framework of my civil disobedience campaign, to no longer collaborate with this justice” without security guarantees, Sonko said Sunday.