Senegal's supreme court upholds prison term for Dakar mayor

Senegal's supreme court on Friday confirmed a prison sentence handed down to the mayor of Dakar, convicted of killing a man during a wave of political violence in 2011.

However, Barthelemy Dias, a fierce opponent of President Macky Sall, will not be jailed, as his sentence was covered by the pre-trial detention he served.

The sentence upheld is a six-month prison term and an 18-month suspended sentence.

His lawyer, Cire Cledor Ly, said the sentence would not cost the opposition figure his post as mayor of the capital, but could threaten his seat in the National Assembly.

"The court rejects the appeal lodged by Barthelemy Toye Dias, the mayor of Dakar," the court's president Abdourahmane Diouf announced.

Dias was not required to attend the reading of the judgment.Dias must also pay 25 million FCFA francs (around 38,000 euros) to the heirs of Ndiaga Diouf.

He was shot dead on 22 December 2011 during an attack on the town hall in Mermoz Sacre-Coeur, one of the capital's communes, by alleged supporters of the ruling party under the then presidency of Abdoulaye Wade.

Dias was mayor of the that district of the city at the time.

He accuses those in power of having resurrected this affair to hinder the 2024 presidential election bid of the former mayor of Dakar and close ally, Khalifa Sall.

The justice ministry did not respond to AFP's requests for information on the consequences of the court ruling.