A Senegalese appeals court upheld a life sentence for journalist Rene Capain Bassene over a 2018 massacre in the Casamance region while acquitting Omar Ampoi Bodian, a member of the MFDC rebel group.
In January 2018, fourteen loggers were killed by armed individuals in the Bayotte forest. The Casamance region, separated from the rest of Senegal by The Gambia, has seen an ongoing independence campaign for over 35 years.
Bassene, convicted of “criminal conspiracy, complicity in murder, and attempted complicity in murder,” denies the charges. His lawyer, Cire Cledor Ly, stated that an appeal has been filed.
Bodian was acquitted “with the benefit of doubt” and will be released. Both men have been imprisoned since January 2018 and were charged with murder and armed insurrection.
During the July hearing, the prosecution requested that the sentences be upheld. In June 2022, Cesar Atoute Badiate, a leader of a military faction of the MFDC tried in absentia, was also sentenced to life for murder and armed insurrection.
Sixteen individuals faced charges including armed robbery, murder, hostage-taking, kidnapping, armed insurrection, and criminal conspiracy. Eleven were acquitted, two received six-month suspended sentences, and three were given life terms.
The conflict in Casamance, which has claimed thousands of lives and devastated the economy, has significantly diminished in intensity.