A security detail that confined Senegalese opposition leader and presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko to his home has been lifted, an AFP correspondent saw on Monday.
“The detail has been lifted,” his PASTEF party spokesperson, Ousseynou Ly, confirmed on Monday.
He noted that Sonko had not been arrested, despite being handed on June 1 a two-year jail term after a trial on charges of sexually abusing a beauty salon worker.
Sonko had been kept inside his Dakar house since May 28.
Interior Minister Antoine Diome had justified the "restrictions" on Sonko because he called to set up a "resistance", with "undeclared gatherings" and deaths followed.
"Are we going to let him go round Senegal, hold gatherings and count the dead left behind? We are not," the minister said then.
Presidential election
Sonko has warned of "indescribable chaos" if he is prevented from running for the top office.
The 49-year-old politician has been nominated as PASTEF candidate for the February 25, 2024 presidential election despite lingering questions over his eligibility due to criminal convictions and prison sentences.
The firebrand figurehead has generated a passionate following among Senegal's disaffected youth.
His convictions in May and June sparked deadly clashes between supporters and security forces, spawning the worst unrest Senegal has seen in years.
Sonko has insisted that despite the legal proceedings against him he remains eligible for the election.
