Senegal opposition figure Ousmane Sonko says he will not cooperate with court

Dakar, 

Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko has said he will no longer respond to court summonses without guarantees for his safety, a day before his appeal in a defamation case begins.

Sonko -- who came third in the 2019 presidential election and is running again in 2024 -- is facing two court cases that could have a bearing on his candidacy.

He was handed a suspended sentence and a hefty fine in March for defaming the tourism minister, with a court due to take up his appeal of that judgement on Monday. 

He is also facing trial later this month for alleged "rape and death threats" over a complaint filed by an employee at a beauty salon where he went for a massage. 

"We have never seen in the whole world a citizen summoned to court, who turns himself in, be the subject of so much fierceness, so much brutality and an attempt almost at physical liquidation," Sonko said on social media Sunday.

Sonko appeared to refer to his claims of a March assassination attempt by police during his forced transfer to the Dakar court during initial defamation proceedings.

"It is no longer justice, it is judicial banditry, and that is why I made the decision, still within the framework of my civil disobedience campaign, to no longer collaborate with this justice" without security guarantees, Sonko said Sunday.

In addition to appealing his defamation conviction, Sonko has denied the rape charge, saying he is the victim of a plot by President Macky Sall to torpedo his 2024 candidacy.

The government has denied that accusation, accusing Sonko of drumming up demonstrations to avoid justice.

Sonko's appointments with the justice system are often sources of tension and near-paralysis of traffic in Dakar, as he usually travels to court with a procession of sympathisers.

The rape charge against Sonko in 2021 helped trigger riots that left at least 12 people dead.