Senegal releases 344 detainees

“These releases are provisional releases. Let no one think that the adventure ends there. The courts will continue to do their duty,” she said, adding that 272 other detainees should benefit from this measure in the coming days.

Waves of release of detainees have been noted in recent days. A situation which has led several people to question the conditions of their release. It was in the meantime that the Minister of Justice, keeper of the seals, faced the press to explain himself. “We are in a political situation, but for the political detainees we are talking about, the situation is clear. All these people who were detained were detained because they committed crimes. They are not politicians,” she says. Before specifying “it was never a question of mass and arbitrary release. There was no open door to release people en masse. The prosecutor does not release. He depends on the institutions of the judge who does not receive orders. Nothing that was done contravened the law. The releases are not arbitrary.” In front of the press, the Minister of Justice informs that these are not definitive releases but provisional releases under certain conditions.

Previously, she confided that: “The current context shows Senegal, which finds itself in an intense political moment of incomprehension, must choose a president of the republic.”

“We had a turbulent political scene. (…) during the council of ministers on February 7 and you even have a comment on it. President Macky Sall decided to give me instructions as Minister of Justice in order to pacify the public space. This reinforces what we were doing. As soon as I arrived at the head of the ministry, I told you that I had two ambitions: “to relieve prison congestion and fight against long detentions,” maintained Me Aïssata Tall Sall. This is how, she recalls, the conference of prosecutors organised last December which is an illustration of the work in the application of the penal policy defined by President Macky Sall. “What the President asked us to do, we were already there well before these liberations that you have already noticed. We have been on this pace. The desire to calm public spaces goes back a long way,” she says.

Questioned on the case of the candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Me Aïssata Tall Sall suggests: "For Bassirou Diomaye Faye to be able to take part in the dialogue, it will first be necessary for him to benefit from provisional freedom and for him to accept to participate in this dialogue. She recalled that her lawyers are in the process of filing requests for provisional release and the investigating judge and the prosecutor will appreciate this.

Ditto for the case of Sonko.

The Minister of Justice wanted to provide details following this wave of release of so-called political detainees. This approach is part of the desire expressed by President Macky to “pacify the public space” following the tensions arising from the postponement of the Presidential election, recalled Me Aissata Tall Sall.

Other questions related to current legal issues were also discussed. Aissata Tall Sall announced that investigations have been opened into the death of three people during the demonstrations which was followed by the postponement of the Presidential election.

Concerning the more than 30 people who died between March 2021 and June 2023, as part of demonstrations, “investigations are still ongoing” informs Me Sall.