Rédaction Africa Links 24 with La rédaction
Published on 2024-03-05 21:16:55
A bill of amnesty submitted by Senegalese President Macky Sall to members of the National Assembly on March 4, 2024, opens the door to impunity for serious crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday.
“If adopted, the bill could effectively grant impunity to those responsible for serious human rights violations,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, Senior Researcher on the Sahel at Human Rights Watch. “Any amnesty that reinforces impunity by exempting government officials and security forces responsible for serious human rights violations is incompatible with Senegal’s national and international obligations.”
The proposed text specifies that the amnesty covers “all acts that could be classified as criminal offenses committed between February 1, 2021, and February 25, 2024, both in Senegal and abroad, related to demonstrations or with political motivations, including those by any media outlet, whether the perpetrators have been tried or not.”
Human Rights Watch has documented the excessive use of force by Senegalese security forces, including live ammunition and inappropriate use of tear gas, to disperse protesters in March 2021, June 2023, and February 2024. At least 40 people have been killed in violent clashes since March 2021, with no one being held accountable. According to the opposition and civil society, up to 1,000 opposition members, including party leaders and presidential candidates, journalists, and activists, were arrested nationwide between March 2021 and January 2023. Since the announcement of the election postponement, at least 344 of them have been released, according to Aïssata Tall Sall, Senegal’s Minister of Justice.
Human Rights Watch has also documented the lack of respect for the right to due process of individuals arrested during opposition-led protests since 2021, including fabricated charges, lack of evidence to support the charges, prolonged pre-trial detention, and mistreatment and torture in detention or during arrest.
“There is strong evidence indicating that the overwhelming majority of people arrested during opposition-led protests were arbitrarily arrested and the charges against them were politically motivated. Ending legal proceedings against these individuals is therefore a positive step,” said a Senegalese human rights defender specializing in human rights law. “However, granting a general amnesty, including to some members of the defense and security forces who have been credibly accused of deadly violence during protests, is a betrayal of the victims and compromises their access to justice.”
The amnesty bill has been criticized by both the opposition and civil society groups. Several victims of violence since 2021 have also expressed serious concerns to Human Rights Watch that the law could hinder their chances of establishing accountability for the violence they have suffered.
The amnesty bill comes as Senegal faces a major political crisis following President Sall’s announcement of the postponement of the presidential election scheduled for February 25. A decision that has been denounced as a “constitutional coup” by the opposition and civil society groups, triggering deadly violence across the country.
On February 6, the Senegalese Parliament voted to postpone the presidential elections to December 15 after a chaotic session of the National Assembly in which security forces removed opposition lawmakers. On February 15, the Senegal Constitutional Council overturned this delay and called for the vote to be held “as soon as possible.” Sall then announced a “national dialogue,” which the opposition rejected and demanded that elections be held before June 2. Senegalese have been waiting for a new election date since then. Sall’s mandate officially ends on April 2.
The key international treaties to which Senegal is a party – including the Convention against Torture and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – provide that persons alleged to be responsible for serious crimes must be prosecuted fairly. An amnesty for serious crimes would also be contrary to the founding principles of the African Union and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“President Sall has stated that the amnesty would be granted in a spirit of national reconciliation,” Allegrozzi said. “But general reconciliation efforts should not be a means to escape accountability.”
Read the original article(French) on Senegal Direct
