Party leader Mohamed Lemine Ch'bih Ould Cheikh Melainine was arrested on 8 April 2001 along with two other party members, Mukhtar Ould Haibetna and Bouba Ould Hassan, on grounds of conspiracy to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism in Mauritania. The government alleged the trio to have been acting in collusion with the Libyan government of Muammar al-Gaddafi. The three were tried in a criminal court some 850 kilometers from Noukachott, and each received a sentence of five years imprisonment.