Senegal has decided to begin a lawsuit against a French judge, Jean-Wielfried Christmas, who issued arrest warrants against 9 Senegalese, including former PM Mame Madior Boye, in connection with the 2002 Joola ferry disaster in which more than 1,850 people perished. A group of lawyers appointed by the government told a press conference on Friday in Dakar that the Senegalese public prosecutor would initiate lawsuits against the French judge for “malfeasance” and “discrediting our institutions”. Papa Moussa Félix Sow, member of the group of lawyers, said the action of Christmas “undermines the dignity of our country and international law”. They said those who were the subject of lawsuits by the French judge would take civil action, because “Jean-Wielfried Christmas could not be unaware of their status at the time of launching international arrest warrants” against them. The matter was closed by Senegalese judiciary after the death of the captain of the ship, considered as “the only person guilty” for overloading of the ship a t the time of the national disaster. Joola was carrying nearly 2,000 people instead of the approved 500 when the accident occurred.
