French court squashes case against Le Joola indictees

Two former key government officials in Senegal have had their names cleared by a French court in on going attempt to have them prosecuted. Court of Appeal of Paris squashed charges levied against the two men, who were indicted and an arrest warrant issued for them in the wake of the deadly Le Joola Ferry disaster that claimed the lives of about 1800 people. The incident occurred in September 2002, when the boat capsized off the Gambian coast, and in 2004, there were complaints of negligent on the part of officials, prompting a French judge to indict these men among a host of others. They included the countrys’ then Prime Minister, Mame Madior Boye, and former Armed Forces Minister, Youba Sambou. ”They have been finally exonerated, the judge can no longer call or hear the case. It’s over. We can no longer continue,” El Hadji Diouf, one of many defense lawyers, said Tuesday. ”Our first victory was confirmed, the Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Paris. They are free from prosecution,” Mr. Diouf said. The Senegalese lawyer expressed satisfaction in the development, noting that ‘‘the war will continue for others involved in a case, including the country’s former Minister of Transport, former Chief of Staff Army General Babacar Gaye, whose fate has not yet been determined.