Former president of Mauritania gets 5-year prison sentence for corruption

By AHMED MOHAMED and SAM METZ
Associated Press

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — Attorneys for Mauritania’s former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz say he has been sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering and self-enrichment. The verdict wraps up a rare corruption trial in west Africa and closes a chapter in the long trajectory of Aziz. He is an army veteran who maintained close ties to the military both before his presidency and from 2009 to 2019 when he led the country. His attorneys are calling the verdict political in nature and attribute it to his conflict with Mauritania’s current President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani.