Niger’s highest court lifts immunity of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum
Associated PressDAKAR, Senegal — Niger’s highest court lifted the immunity of the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, nearly a year after he was overthrown by mutinous soldiers, his lawyer said Friday, opening the door for the military junta to prosecute him for alleged high treason. The junta authorities said they planned to prosecute him for “high treason” and for undermining national security, and earlier this year initiated legal proceedings to lift his immunity in a newly created State Court, which became the country’s highest judicial authority. Before Bazoum was forcibly removed from power, Niger was the West’s last major security partner in the Sahel, the vast region south of the Sahara Desert that has become a hot spot for violent extremism. Late last year, the highest court of West African regional bloc ECOWAS ruled that Bazoum and his family were arbitrarily detained and called for him to be restored to office.