Government critic Ousmane Sonko was acquitted of rape charges but found guilty of "corrupting youth." His trial has triggered street protests that left nine people dead.
Ednews informs that nine people were killed in the protests that erupted following the sentencing of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, authorities said early on Friday.
Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome made this announcement on state television, adding that the deaths happened in Dakar and Ziguinchor.
A Senegalese court sentenced on Thursday sentenced former presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison over "corrupting youth," but acquitted him of rape charges.
Sonko, who is particularly popular among younger voters, had repeatedly said the rape charges were a ploy to stop him from running for the presidency next year. He boycotted the trial proceedings, but was forcibly returned to Dakar by the police on Sunday, ahead of the verdict.