This March 3, 2023, on the set of “Balance”, one of Walf TV’s popular shows, Pape Ndiaye speaks on the most sensitive case in Senegal for months, the one nicknamed “Sweet Beauty”. The name is that of the massage parlor in which Ousmane Sonko is suspected of having raped one of the employees, Adji Sarr. A case in which the opponent of President Macky Sall has just been sent to court.
A political decision, implies that day Pape Ndiaye. The court reporter claims – without however providing any proof – that 19 deputy prosecutors opposed this referral to the criminal chamber. A few hours later, on the morning of March 4, the journalist was taken into police custody and then, Tuesday, March 7, under a warrant of committal. A total of six charges were brought against him: instigation of a crowd, contempt of court, intimidation and reprisals against a member of the judiciary, speech discrediting a judicial act, dissemination of false news and endangerment of another’s life.
“Only two charges really relate to the case, the others are grotesque and have nothing to do with the case,” is surprised Ibrahima Lissa Faye, member of the Coordination of press associations (CAP) and president of the Online Press Association (Appel). According to Moussa Sarr, the defendant’s lawyer, Pape Ndiaye risks up to three years in prison.
“A simple denial from the prosecution would have sufficed”, regret M.e Sarr. An opinion shared by Mr. Faye: “Pape Ndiaye admitted his mistake and made amends. It would have been more logical to seize the Council for the observatory of the rules of ethics and professional conduct in the media [Cored], which could have prevented him from carrying out his duties. »
“This is not acceptable in a democracy”
If the case of Pape Ndiaye worries his profession, it is because it recalls the arrest, in November 2022, of the journalist Pape Alé Niang. He was also accused of “spreading false news” in connection with the Adji Sarr affair. Following a strong mobilization, the journalist of the information site Dakar Morning, on hunger strike, had been released after two months in prison.
“When two very well-known journalists are arrested and prosecuted within a few months in the exercise of their functions, it means that the situation is serious. This is not acceptable in a democracy, where the right to inform is enshrined in the Constitution,” reminds Me Sarr. The Senegalese authorities have always defended that they do not interfere in judicial cases.
One year from the presidential election of February 2024, the tension is palpable. While Macky Sall is suspected by his detractors of wanting to seek a third term, his main opponent, Ousmane Sonko, is being prosecuted in several cases, which could prevent him from running as a candidate.
Arrests and prosecutions of activists and supporters of political opponents have increased in recent months. “The government has decided to muzzle and intimidate the press so that journalists are afraid and no longer deal with sensitive issues. We feel a desire of the state to break journalists so that they censor themselves”, reports Mr. Faye, of the CAP. He fears that by 2024, attacks against the press will multiply. “Tomorrow it may be a brother or sister. The “Sweet Beauty” case has claimed many victims,” he worries.