2024-01-19 10:53:03
Published on: 01/19/2024 – 11:53
A historic trial opened on January 8 for The Gambia. Ousmane Sonko, former senior dignitary of the Yahya Jammeh dictatorship, is answering before Swiss justice for a series of alleged crimes once morest humanity, committed between 2000 and 2016.
Torture, massacres perpetrated by death squads or “Junglers”, extrajudicial executions, rapes, forced disappearances… Since 1994 and the coming to power of Yahya Jammeh through a coup d’état, the Gambia has lived in fear abuses. For 22 years, all Gambians have, directly or indirectly, paid the price of the dictatorship and its excesses. Opponents and journalists were silenced as Jammeh withdrew his country from the Commonwealth and began the withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, while transforming The Gambia into an Islamic Republic.
Since the fall of the dictator in 2016, the country has been trying to rebuild itself. In January 2017, a “Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation” commission was created to shed light on the crimes perpetrated by the regime and initiate prosecutions once morest those responsible. A first step to allow Gambians to move forward and put an end to the shadow of Jammeh, who now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea.
But, for the moment, no trial has yet taken place in the country, and the victims are growing impatient. The trial of the former Gambian Minister of the Interior, Ousmane Sonko, currently on trial in Switzerland for crimes once morest humanity, is therefore eagerly awaited in Gambia. He is accused of committing various crimes once morest humanity – including torture and repeated rape – between 2000 and 2016, during the era of former iron-fisted president Yahya Jammeh, first as a member of the army, then as inspector general of police, and finally as minister.
This historic trial might open the door to an appearance by Yahya Jammeh, the main person responsible for the years of terror in Gambia.
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