{"id":51937,"date":"2024-01-25T17:54:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=51937"},"modified":"2024-01-25T16:25:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T16:25:04","slug":"defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations","title":{"rendered":"Defense lawyer argues prosecution failed to connect Sonko to alleged violations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Bellinzona, Switzerland\u2013Philippe Currat, a Swiss attorney defending Ousman Sonko, Gambia\u2019s former interior minister currently on trial in Switzerland for crimes against humanity, said prosecutors have failed to prove their case. Currat said that after 13 days of hearings, including the testimonies of 11 witnesses, prosecutors have not provided sufficient evidence linking Sonko to the violations he is accused of.<\/b><\/p>\n

Arrested in January 2017, the Swiss Attorney General\u2019s office, along with 10 plaintiffs from Gambia, is accusing Sonko of torture, murder, false imprisonment, rape, and deprivation of liberty, allegedly perpetrated against Gambians during the 22-year rule of ex-president Yahya Jammeh.<\/p>\n

Sonko is the second person to face trial in Switzerland under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which holds that crimes against humanity are committed against all humans regardless of where they were committed. The first person to face trial in Switzerland under universal jurisdiction, Alieu Kosiah of Liberia, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.<\/p>\n

Swiss prosecutors have tried to prove Sonko\u2019s responsibility for torture through his alleged participation in various investigation panels as inspector general or for ordering or abetting abuse as interior minister.<\/p>\n

In 2006, following a failed coup, dozens of civilians and military personnel, were arrested and detained, during which they were allegedly tortured. Several plaintiffs testified to such events, but Sonko maintained he was not a member of the panel that would have overseen their alleged torture. \u201cHe was there on the first day… This was before the people were tortured. Once again, these people were tortured, and they were under the custody of the NIA and the Junglers,\u201d and not Sonko, Currat argued.<\/p>\n

Currat argued the prosecution failed to establish Sonko\u2019s role in the alleged torture of the plaintiffs. \u201cWhat is missing is the link between torture at the NIA [National Intelligence Agency] and Ousman Sonko,\u201d argued Currat.<\/p>\n

During his testimony, Sonko, who denied any participation or knowledge in the arrest and torture of protestors at NIA in 2016, said he learned \u201cmuch later\u201d what had occurred, and said the police acted \u201cin accordance with the Gambian law,\u201d with \u201cproportionate use of force\u201d when arresting them.<\/p>\n

Prison condition<\/b><\/p>\n

Sonko served under Jammeh as police chief for one year and interior minister for 10 years. He was in charge of Gambia\u2019s prisons and internal security matters for half of Jammeh\u2019s presidency\u2014a leader who stands accused of using police and prisons as tools to oppress and neutralise political opponents.<\/p>\n

During Gambia\u2019s Truth Commission hearings, several witnesses testified that the Security Wing at the country\u2019s central prison Mile 2\u2014the area of the prison where high-profile prisoners are kept\u2014was used as a torture and arbitrary detention ground for members of Jammeh\u2019s hit-squad, the Junglers. Sonko maintained that the Security Wing had been under the control of the State Guards, elite forces guarding the presidency.<\/p>\n

In the second week of the trial, two prison officers, Lamin Sanneh and Abdou Jammeh, testified to torture, and poor food and hygiene conditions at Mile 2 prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrisons in The Gambia are notoriously substandard, but this is not the result of Gambian state policy, but rather a historical legacy with which we have to come to terms,\u201d said Sonko, while adding that he tripled the budget for food for prisoners during his time as interior minister.<\/p>\n

According to the human rights committee of Gambia\u2019s parliament, however, the food ration for a prisoner in the Gambia is currently D5 per person, which is the cost of half a loaf of bread in the country.<\/p>\n

Torture<\/b><\/p>\n

The hearing of witnesses concluded with the testimony of Madi Ceesay, the former general manager of The Independent arrested in March 2006 with the paper\u2019s editor-in-chief Musa Saidykhan. Both were allegedly tortured and detained for 22 days at the premises of the NIA for publishing false information about the alleged involvement of the former deputy director of NIA, Samba Bah, in a foiled coup that year.<\/p>\n

The bi-weekly newspaper was \u201cforcibly shut down,\u201d by members of the police intervention unit, according to local and international press freedom organizations. But Sonko claimed that officials obtained a court order to shut down the paper. According to the Gambia Press Union, however, all 15 incidents of media closure in Banjul, under Jammeh, were arbitrary.<\/p>\n

Sonko denied any knowledge or involvement in the alleged torture of Musa and Madi. At least two civilians\u2014one of whom was allegedly raped\u2014and one soldier also testified they were tortured in 2006. They blamed Sonko for participating in the investigation panel that ordered or endorsed their ill-treatment.<\/p>\n

Sonko also stands accused of participating in the torture and death in state custody of Ebrima Solo Sandeng, the leader of a protest in April 2016. At least five alleged torture victims who participated in protests have since died, and one of them\u2014Nogoi Njie\u2014was expected to testify against Sonko in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Three alleged torture victims\u2014Fatoumatta Jawara, Fatou Camara and Modou Ngum\u2014testified against Sonko. Unlike Ngum, Jawara and Camara did not testify to seeing Sonko at the paramilitary or NIA headquarters, where they were allegedly tortured. The country\u2019s former police chief\u2014Yankuba Sonko, who was Sonko\u2019s direct subordinate\u2014told Swiss investigators that he had reservations regarding how protests on April 14 and 16 were handled but was not explicit about whether he communicated this to Ousman.<\/p>\n

Rape as a form of torture<\/b><\/p>\n

Sonko faces one allegation of rape by Binta Jamba, the widow of Almamo Manneh, a former state guards soldier who served under Sonko in 2000. Jamba said she was abused over a period of five years, from 2000 to 2005.<\/p>\n

The prosecutors are trying to prove that Sonko also participated in at least one investigation panel that oversaw the torture and rape of a political detainee in 2006. They argued that rape was used as an instrument of torture by Jammeh\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

Currat, Sonko\u2019s lawyer, told journalists that he did not cross-examine Jamba, because her \u201ccontradictory statements\u201d had already discredited her testimony. Several witnesses, including Demba Dem, alleged that Sonko is a \u201cwomaniser\u201d who does not respect women.<\/p>\n

A former wife of Sonko\u2014 with whom he had a son\u2014 came to testify to his character.<\/p>\n

Though Njemeh Bah did not take the stand, she submitted a one-page statement which was admitted by the court. \u201cI haven\u2019t witnessed or heard a glimpse of any of the undertakings that he\u2019s being accused of,\u201d she stated in her statement. \u201cI stand here as a living testament that for the duration that I knew him, he was a harmless, caring and considerate figure who would go to great lengths to make someone safe and happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Swiss court must now decide if Sonko\u2019s alleged crimes were part of a broader context of state-sponsored terror visited upon Gambians during Jammeh\u2019s 22-year rule.<\/p>\n

The hearings are closed until March 4, when the court will hear the lawyer\u2019s pleading statements.<\/p>\n

This was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Bellinzona, Switzerland\u2013Philippe Currat, a Swiss attorney defending Ousman Sonko, Gambia\u2019s former interior minister currently on trial in Switzerland for crimes against humanity, said prosecutors have failed to prove their case. Currat said that after 13 days of hearings, including the testimonies of 11 witnesses, prosecutors have not provided sufficient evidence linking Sonko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-51937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nDefense lawyer argues prosecution failed to connect Sonko to alleged violations - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bellinzona, Switzerland\u2013Philippe Currat, a Swiss attorney defending Ousman Sonko, Gambia\u2019s former interior minister c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defense lawyer argues prosecution failed to connect Sonko to alleged violations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bellinzona, Switzerland\u2013Philippe Currat, a Swiss attorney defending Ousman Sonko, Gambia\u2019s former interior minister c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-25T17:54:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1706186598.098492.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Defense lawyer argues prosecution failed to connect Sonko to alleged violations\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-25T17:54:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations\"},\"wordCount\":1181,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1706186598.098492.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/defense-lawyer-argues-prosecution-failed-to-connect-sonko-to-alleged-violations\",\"name\":\"Defense lawyer argues prosecution failed to connect Sonko to alleged violations - 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