The former Mauritanian president, Mohmamed Ould Abdel Aziz, was arrested on Tuesday around 8 pm and detained by a judge from the anti-corruption pole of the Nouakchott-Ouest prosecutor’s office, according to one of his lawyers contacted by our correspondent in Nouakchott. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who ruled Mauritania between 2008 and 2019, was accused on March 12 of corruption, embezzlement of public property and money laundering. Facts he has always denied.
as reported from Nouakchott, Salem Mejbour Salem
It was around 8 pm local time that three police officers came to the former Mauritanian president’s home to take him to the courthouse. His meeting with the judges for the anti-corruption pole was short. A few minutes to inform him of his detention.
MeMohameden Ould Ichidou, the dean of the lawyers who secure his defense, participated in the launch of his client. He condemns an arbitrary decision. For him, it will be proven, when the time comes, that the former president is a victim of political solution: “It is a decision that violates all laws in the criminal procedure. We will show that this is just revenge and that it has no legal basis. ”
Under house arrest since May 11
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz ruled Mauritania between 2008 and 2019. His problems began a few months after he left power. In January 2020, Parliament voted to set up a parliamentary committee to examine its leadership during its decade of presidency.
In July 2020 reports from the Commission. The 800-page document overwhelms the former head of state. Corruption, influential peddling, embezzlement and waste of public property, money laundering … Aziz denies the facts. But he was charged on March 12, 2021 before being placed under house arrest on May 11. We do not know what motivated his imprisonment, the prosecution has not yet communicated.
► To read also: Guest Africa – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz: “I have to pay because I want to exist as a politician”
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