What is the future for the former president?

What happens next after Bazoum’s presidential immunity is lifted? Weeks have passed since the National Court lifted the presidential immunity of Mohamed Bazoum, who was prosecuted for treason and crimes against the internal security of the state. We know all the legal twists and turns that this political case has gone through. But from that point on, the president who was ousted on July 26, 2023, no longer enjoys the political immunity that exempted him from ordinary law procedures. From now on, Bazoum, freed from the presidential mantle, will be able to be tried by ordinary law courts. However, if the lifting of presidential immunity seems easier, it is obviously not easy to organize the trial of the deposed president. The evidence is that Bazoum currently seems to be still being held in the presidential palace, accompanied by his wife, security guards and cooks. Since he is no longer considered just a deposed president of the republic and is now prosecuted and stripped of his political immunity, we really do not understand why he continues to be held in this presidential palace, which is not a legal prison.

If he cannot be transferred to a legal prison due to the known flight risk, he may be placed under house arrest until his trial (if there is one), but even this assumption does not seem to be in favor with those in power, who believe that Bazoum represents a kind of life insurance policy to some extent, and they will not take the slightest risk of moving him out of his current situation.

Indeed, for some analysts, the removal of Bazoum’s presidential immunity serves no purpose other than to compensate the deposed president for his stubborn refusal to sign a surrender. If a resignation is not obtained, which could make many things easier, the removal of this immunity by the Justice Department would put an end to Bazoum’s stubborn presidential fantasy, bordering on obsession.

This means, therefore, that, in all likelihood, Bazoum’s trial will never take place and that lifting his immunity can only be a roundabout way of gaining something that would not be possible through the outright resignation of the persons concerned.

For other observers, on the other hand, Bazoum will indeed be judged, but not on the level terms one might expect. After all, it is often said that might is always best.

to be continued!

AH (Today’s World)