Demonstrators shout slogans in front of riot policemen during a protest against the arrest of opposition leader and former presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko, Senegal, Monday, March 8, 2021.
Senegalese authorities have freed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko while he awaits trial on charges of rape and making death threats.
Upon his release, the 46-year-old politician blamed his arrest on President Macky Sall, accusing the incumbent leader of seeking to sideline his future political prospects before the country's 2024 election.
While Sonko publicly accused the president of plunging Senegal into an unprecedented crisis, the opposition leader said his goal wasn't to force Sall from power.
Karim Wade, the son of the president Sall defeated in 2012, was once widely seen as the heir apparent before he was charged with corruption the following year.