Ex-president of Mauritania imprisoned over corruption

A court in Mauritania’s capital city, Nouakchott, has sentenced former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to five years in prison.

On Monday, the court said that Aziz did bad things with money and used his job to make himself richer in a wrong way.

The court said they can take away his things that he got illegally, but he doesn’t have to go to jail for the other things he was accused of.

Aziz, who is 66 years old, became the president in 2009 by taking down President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a coup. He led Mauritania until 2019.

He has been in court since January with 10 other important people, including two former leaders and ministers from his government.

They were accused of many crimes, like using their power unfairly, moving money illegally, getting rich in a dishonest way, and improperly using their influence for personal gain.

The court, which focuses on corruption and economic crimes, also gave lighter sentences to some of the other people involved on Monday, but the former prime ministers and two ex-ministers were found not guilty.

Aziz said he didn’t do anything wrong during the trial and thinks he was being targeted for political reasons.

He and the current President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani used to be close friends, but now they are not getting along. This was reported by the AFP news agency.

He is also accused of getting very rich during his ten years as ruler.

One of Aziz’s lawyers, Mohameden Ould Icheddou, said that the trial we went to was about politics. The decision made in the trial is also based on politics.

His legal team also stated they will try to overturn the decision.