The Government holds detainees without charge or trial for extended periods of time, sometimes incommunicado. Human rights monitors estimate that pretrial detainees arrested without warrants and imprisoned without charges make up 90 percent of the prison population. The authorities do not routinely observe bail procedures. There were no known cases of forced exile. Denial of Fair Public Trial Traditional law still prevails in most rural areas, and urban dwellers often bring judicial disputes to traditional counselors to avoid the costs and bureaucratic impediments of the official legal system.
Police often resolve disputes.
Because of low salaries and poor training, judges are sometimes subject to political pressures and corruption. In May, however, the Supreme Court resisted pressure from a number of parties and ruled that all eight presidential candidates were eligible to run. The system is sometimes capable of providing fair trial, even in very controversial cases. The trials, in a military court, received wide media attention and were considered fair. The court exonerated the two politicians, sentenced most of the other detainees to terms of 2 to 8 years, and sentenced the killer, Amadou Mane, to 15 years in prison.