Two Senegalese opposition deputies were sentenced to six months in prison on Monday for hitting a majority colleague in the National Assembly.
On December 1, MP Massata Samb attacked his colleague Amy Ndiaye from the podium over statements she had made against Moustapha Sy, leader of a party that is a member of the main opposition coalition, the Parti de Unity and Gathering (PUR), who is not a deputy but is an influential marabout in Senegal. The images that have been circulating on a loop are very widely perceived as showing Massata Samb slapping the parliamentarian, and his colleague Mamadou Niang kicking him in the stomach, in the middle of a public session. Amy Ndiaye was hospitalized after the incident and risks losing the baby she is carrying, her lawyer, Me Baboucar Cissé, said during the trial. She was discharged from the hospital, but remainsin an extremely difficult situation“, he added.
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100,000 francs fine and 5 million damages
The two parliamentarians, imprisoned since December 15, were tried on December 19 by the court for flagrante delicto in Dakar. He also sentenced them on Monday to each pay a fine of 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros), and “severally» damages of five million FCFA (7625 euros) for «intentional assault and batteryon Amy Ndiaye, deputy of the presidential party. The prosecution had required two firm years. The two deputies were not present Monday during the reading of the judgment. “They will stay in prison while we appealsaid one of their lawyers, Abdy Nar Ndiaye.
Despite the images, they had denied during the trial having hit their colleague. The defense of the two deputies had pleaded that the trial could not take place given the parliamentary immunity of their clients, but the court ignored it. The incident was seen as symptomatic of tensions between the opposition and the majority, of violence against women but also of the untouchable status of marabouts.
The presidential camp lost the absolute majority it held after the July legislative elections which gave the Assembly a virtual balance of power in a tense political context. President Macky Sall, elected in 2012 for seven years and re-elected in 2019 for five years, remains silent on his intentions for the 2024 presidential election.