Mauritania: Former President Ould Abdelaziz asks President Ghazouani to intervene

Former President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz is asking his successor, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, to stop “being a passive witness to injustice. In a letter dated December 8, published in the Mauritanian press and authenticated by his lawyers, he denounced the judicial investigation against him. Ould Abdelaziz has been incarcerated since June 22 for failing to comply with the rules of his judicial supervision. He is accused of illicit enrichment, receiving stolen goods and money laundering during the ten years he was in power. For him, this case is a political plot.
In his letter to the head of state, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz wishes to address the president of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary: “You cannot be a passive witness to such a grotesque plot; […] your role forbids you morally and legally.
In passing, the former president reminded his successor, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who was previously his closest advisor, that he is “the only, if not one of the few people who know the origin and traceability of his assets.
For Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz’s lawyers, his provisional detention is abusive, while the investigation is not progressing. “Either we judge him or we release him, but we cannot keep him in prison like this,” said Taleb Khiyar, who recalled that the other co-accused in this case are free.
“It is because they have not departed from their judicial control,” explains Mr. Brahim Ould Ebety, president of the Bar Association, who heads the group of state lawyers formed for this case. According to him, the investigation is progressing by leaps and bounds. All the defendants and witnesses have been heard by the judge. “The investigation could even be closed at the beginning of 2022”, concludes the President of the Bar.