The Supreme Court of Senegal ruled on Thursday to uphold the guilty verdict rendered by the Court of Appeal against Ousman Sonko, the leader of the PASTEF opposition party, on May 8, 2023. Sonko’s eligibility for the next presidential election, the first round of which is slated for February 25, is now called into question.

Ousmane Sonko had been handed a six-month suspended prison sentence for defaming current tourism minister Mame Mbaye Niang. The opposition leader, dubbed the mayor of Ziguinchor, had publicly accused the current Minister of Tourism of being spanked in a report by the State Inspectorate General for alleged financial misappropriations. Sonko, however, never substantiated his allegations with irrefutable evidence before the courts.

The 49-year-old president of the Senegalese African Patriots for Work, Ethics, and Brotherhood (Pastef), who finished third in the 2019 presidential election, was sentenced to two months in prison with suspension and 200 million CFA francs (roughly 300,000 euros) in damages by a lower court in March 2023.

In a separate case, Ousmane Sonko was convicted on June 1st of “youth corruption” and sentenced to two years in prison.