Mauritania: Does Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz want to avoid trial?

The trial of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the former Mauritanian president accused in particular of corruption and embezzlement of public property, has once again been postponed. Explanations.

Is Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, as Mauritanian state lawyers believe, implementing an avoidance strategy? As we know, this defensive behavior allows the accused, when the strategy succeeds, not to find himself confronted with his accusers. It is still necessary to have a panoply of excuses to succeed in having his trials postponed. Especially since the judges are eager to hear the explanations of the former head of state, accused of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement of public property.

The former Mauritanian president has already achieved his goals twice: after a first postponement when the proceedings were opened on January 25, the trial was postponed again, this time to April 6. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz's lawyers withdrew from the hearings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. They asked for the postponement of the trial.

Considering in particular that article 47 of the anti-corruption law, which mentions a profit-sharing promised to the judicial services, and that article 16, which concerns the reversal of the burden of proof, violate the Constitution, the defense of the former president appealed to the Constitutional Council. This appeal was dismissed. The court in charge of the fight against economic and financial crimes had, once the decision of the Constitutional Council had been rendered, decided to resume the hearings of the trial last week.

The State's commitment contested by the accused

But the "file of the decade" takes time to settle. “What we are witnessing is a continuation of a trial avoidance strategy,” explained Maître Lo Gourmo, one of the Mauritanian state lawyers. According to the collective of lawyers, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz would have decided to multiply the appeals to avoid having to explain himself on the merits of the case.

But “this trial must be held and the cases must be discussed, that we get to the bottom of this trial. The Mauritanian people and the whole of national and international public opinion want to know what Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is accused of, to allow him to decide, ”continues the prosecution lawyer.

Since the start of his case, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has pleaded not guilty. “I am ready to be unjustly condemned and imprisoned,” he said last October. The former president says he wants to be tried but challenges the way justice wants to do justice: “What can save the country and save me by giving me back my dignity is a judgment. But the state would have to have the courage to disengage from this case and let honest judges take care of it, ”he said.

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz recently negotiated to be able to leave the country to seek treatment.