Trial of Karim Wade irregular, says UN

DAR ES SALAAM

The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention has described the nearly two-year detention of Karim Wade in Senegal as ‘‘arbitrary’’.

Furthermore, the group said even the trial of the former president’s son was marred by “irregularities”.

The UN body has therefore urged the government of Senegal to undertake the necessary measures in order “to remedy the prejudice suffered by him (Karim Wade).

Such a remedy would include an “integral reparation”, a statement by the UN body issued in Dakar yesterday said.

The statement was just an observation and should not be taken as interference in the Senegal’s judiciary system, the note said.

In reaction to the statement, the state lawyer Aly Fall contested the opinion of the UN working group, describing it as “abhorrent”.

He said the trial was regular and that the jurisdiction had functioned normally.

For their part, the defence lawyers of Mr Wade said the observation by the UN group was a clear justification of their regular boycott of the trials which they described as “unjust and criminal”.

Karim Wade was sentenced to six years imprisonment in April this year after serving a year in preventive custody for allegedly swindling millions of dollars of public funds.

Mr Wade who will now spend four years is being jailed along with about a dozen of other former senior government officials for the same charge.