The verdict came down on Friday, April 17, 2026. The Indictment Chamber of the Dakar Court of Appeal has declared the entire legal proceedings against Farba Ngom null and void. In a statement with prosecutorial overtones, the spokesperson for the Alliance for the Republic (APR), Alioune Badara Coulibaly, hailed the judicial victory while pointing out the flaws of a system he believes is being instrumentalized.

The prosecution's case "collapsed like a house of cards." For the party of the former president of the Republic, the appellate judges' invalidation of the preliminary investigation reports and the prosecutor's indictments marks the end of a judicial ordeal for the deputy-mayor of Agnam, who has been incarcerated since February 2025.

Beyond the Farba Ngom case, the APR spokesperson paints a grim picture of the state of the rule of law in Senegal. He speaks of an "authoritarian drift of the judicial elite" which, in his view, sometimes administers a justice that is debatable, "to the great detriment of our democracy."

Alioune Badara Coulibaly draws a parallel with the situation of Pape Malick Ndour. The Coordinator of the Republican Cadres is currently under electronic monitoring and house arrest, a measure the spokesperson deems unusual for the charges in question, seeing it as a form of political intimidation.

For the APR, these cases are just the tip of the iceberg. The party calls for a deep overhaul to guarantee a true separation of powers, recalling that "petitions of principle and proclamations of faith are not enough on their own to guarantee this independence," he notes.

The spokesperson suggests several levers to restore the institution's credibility: "Financial autonomy: put an end to the shortage of material resources (computers, paper, operating costs) that weakens the courts. Meritocracy: Base the appointment of judges exclusively on 'competence, reputation, impartiality, and efficiency.' And political will: Assume the operating costs of a free judiciary, as they are not beyond the state's capacity."

In conclusion, while the imminent release of Farba Ngom is celebrated as a major success for his lawyers, the APR warns that the defendant will long bear the "scars" of a procedure deemed abusive. For the political party, the path to a judiciary that truly acts as an institutional "counterweight" remains a long one.

Sokhna Faty Isseu SAMB