Saint-Louis, January 6 (APS) – Lawyer Me El Hadji continued, Monday, to demand light on the death in detention of Bassirou Diop, one of the security officers of the Sam Sa Kaddu coalition during the legislative elections from November 17.
”We deplore this death recorded among our clients and we ask international bodies and human rights organizations to denounce it,” he declared to journalists after the announcement of the verdict of the 80 officers of the security of the Sam Sama Kadu coalition this Monday.
Bassirou Diop, one of those charged with acts of violence against merchants, died in prison ”of a natural death” on December 7 according to an official source.
The High Court, in its deliberations, declared the public action extinguished in his case. ”Bassirou Diop has rights, he is a human being and he died in detention,” insisted his lawyer who wants this death to be clarified.
According to Me. Diouf, “the certificate of type of death speaks of contusion at the level of the right temple, the question being to know what is at the origin of this contusion”.
The autopsy does not conclude that it was a natural death but suggests heart problems, he said, emphasizing that a cardiac subject can die of a heart attack if he receives a blow.
Me Diouf has expressed his desire to appeal, believing that his clients have done nothing so serious to deserve a conviction.
The high court of Saint-Louis (north) sentenced three members of the security of the “Samm Sa Kaddu” coalition, prosecuted for acts of violence against merchants, to three years in prison.
The court also handed down other sentences ranging from two years, including six months, to three years, with two years, against some of the defendants in this case which dates back to the legislative election campaign of 17 last November. Others accused were acquitted.
For damages, the civil parties will receive sums ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 CFA francs.
The facts for which the defendants appeared date back to November 11. That day, clashes broke out between street vendors from Sor, a district of Saint-Louis, and the bodyguards of the “Samm Sa Kaddu” coalition.
These clashes occurred while a caravan of this opposition coalition was roaming the streets of this neighborhood, a few days before the legislative elections on November 17.
AMD/AKS/SKS/OID
