Senegal began judicial hearings on Friday as it investigates crimes committed during deadly political unrest under the West African country's previous administration, the head of a victims' group told AFP.

The hearings pave the way for a long-awaited judicial process intended to shed light on the violence which occurred over the course of four years under ex-president Macky Sall.

At least 65 people, mostly young, were killed between March 2021 and February 2024 during protests called by the opposition, according to a report released earlier this year by a group of journalists and scientists.

The protests were harshly repressed by the government and additionally resulted in multiple injuries and detentions.

Officials under the new administration, led by President Bassirou Dioumaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, an arch-rival of Sall, place the death toll at more than 80.

Investigation opened

Testimony by an alleged victim, Pape Abdoulaye Toure, "is over, it lasted for four hours", a representative from the Zero Impunity Initiative (IZI) told AFP Friday.

In a joint statement Thursday, it and another justice movement, Senegal Our Priority (SNP), announced that investigators had summoned one of their members, an alleged victim of torture, to appear Friday.

The Ministry of Justice had already announced the opening of an investigation into the cases at the end of August.

The new administration has faced increased pressure in recent months from victims' families and members of their own camp who say the pace of justice has been too slow.

On August 30, hundreds of Senegalese demonstrators protested in Dakar to demand justice.