9th January 2024 21:46Partage

Day 2: Going forward on the substance of the case

As prescribed by law, the Court recalled Ousman Sonko of the charges pending against him, based on the indictment. He was then asked to answer questions on his personal situation. He refused to answer in detail about his health situation. However, when asked by his lawyer, he explained that he had been spitting blood because of the bad air quality in the Swiss prison. The accused then affirmed that his seven years of pre-trial detention had been the worst time of his life.

Regarding his financial situation, Ousman Sonko said that he had no more savings and that his family was in financial difficulty. He was still owning the house he occupied in The Gambia but had no other bank accounts than the ones listed in the casefile.

His plans for the future were to return to The Gambia and study law.

Ousman Sonko was then allowed to make a statement. He reaffirmed that he was not guilty of the crimes he was being charged with. Throughout his career, he had always been loyal to his country and served it as best as he could. He would have been happy to address the TRRC if he had had the opportunity and would have reminded the Gambian people of the complexity of the Gambian context.

According to him, during his time as Minister of Interior, he tried to improve the detention conditions as much as he could in, notably, tripling the food budget for prisoners. He also worked to improve the conduct of security forces on the use of force. As Inspector General of Police (IGP), he made efforts to professionalize the police. He stated that he was proud of his achievements.

Ousman Sonko then formulated critics against the Government of Switzerland, arguing that during the years of investigation, the authorities prevented him to obtain the diplomatic protection from his country and that the country was not in position to lecture anyone on human rights.

The accused was then questioned on the general context of attack against the Gambian population.

Ousman Sonko contested the entire charges brought against him with regards to such a context. Amongst other declarations, the accused claimed that he was not aware – and had never heard – Yahya Jammeh’s speeches where he publicly threatened the population – respectively human rights defenders or political opponents – in 2000, 2006, 2009 and 2016.

During his term as Minister of Interior, it is possible that people had been tortured but as far as his Ministry was concerned, he had no knowledge of such crimes. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had never been under his control or authority, and he had never worked for the Agency. The Junglers belonged to the State guard battalions which was within the Republican National Guard, under the Ministry of Defense, headed by Yahya Jammeh. The accused claimed he had no knowledge of any harsh treatment that took place in the security wings of Gambian prisons.

Upon his counsel’s questions, Ousman Sonko stated that he had never participated in any meeting with the President Jammeh to develop a strategy to attack the civilian population, neither had he taken part of any Cabinet meetings where torture at the NIA was discussed. In fact, he argued that security services matters were never the subject during those meetings. Neither as IGP nor as MoI was he ever informed about the actions of the Junglers and the NIA never informed him of any acts of torture taking place.

Upcoming next: the Court will examine the facts related to Almamo Manneh’s murder in 2000.