Former President Of Mauritanian Pleads Not Guilty On Illicit Charges

Former Mauritanian president, Mohamed Ould Aziz has pleaded not guilty) to charges of illicit enrichment.

This comes after he was questioned by a Nouakchott court.

The court was resuming hearings after a two-week recess and reading out the charges against him.

Report says Aziz faces charges of “abuse of office”, “influence peddling”, “illicit enrichment” and “money laundering” along with two former prime ministers, former ministers, and businessmen.

The former president claims he is “the victim of a plot” hatched by people who opposed him during his tenure.

He challenged the charges as being ‘baseless’, putting forward the Constitution, which he said prohibits trying a president for acts committed in office.

Since the opening of the trial on January 25, it has been a series of arguments about the court’s jurisdiction, whether or not to maintain Aziz and his 10 co-accused in detention, and the rights of the defense.

Early February, the court decided not to rule on challenges to its jurisdiction until the end of the proceedings.

AFRICANEWS/Christopher Ojilere