In a ruling issued yesterday, the Court of Appeal in the French city of Versailles, has granted a partial “yes” to the Senegalese government’s request for the extradition to Dakar of media chief Madiambal Diagne.
Interviewed by Le Quotidien newspaper shortly before the ruling, defence attorney Vincent Brengarth outlined the contours of the upcoming battle. According to him, the court’s opinion is merely the prelude to a highly political administrative phase: “Once the opinion is issued, it will be up to the French government to decide. The government must authorise the extradition by decree.”
Following the ruling, the spokesperson for the Avenir Communication Group newspaper owned by Mr Diagne emphasised that the fight will now move to two fronts.
“First, should the extradition decree be signed by the French prime minister, we will initiate proceedings for abuse of power. No decree can be issued without serious prejudiced to our client’s rights. Second, we also reserved the right to challenge the investigating chamber’s opinion,” he outlined.
Seneweb
