Ousman Sonko is being accused, in complicity with a group of perpetrators, of having tortured several political opponents and illegally depriving them of their liberty in the context of a political demonstration organized in April 2016 in Banjul. Within this context, Ousman Sonko is in particular suspected of having tortured and then killed one of the organizers of the demonstration.
Two plaintiffs are being called to provide their statements:
| Both plaintiffs to be called to testify in relation to the April 2016’s events are former members of the UDP (opposition party under Jammeh), who were strongly engaged in the activities of the party from an early age. They were arrested and subsequently tortured in April 2016 and kept in detention for several months afterwards. |
The first plaintiff to testify explained having been arrested in April 2016 and brought to the Police Intervention Unit headquarters (PIU HQ) along with other persons. Yankuba Sonko (Inspector General of Police, IGP, at the time) and Yankuba Colley (Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council, KMC, at the time) were present. She heard the latter saying that Ousman Sonko was in a room next door. Although she did not see him with her own eyes, she heard the IGP telling Yankuba Colley that Ousman Sonko said the arrestees had to be brought to the NIA/Mile2.
She was herself taken to Mile 2 and then, at night, to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)’s premises. She described the torture and humiliation she went through.
She was then brought back to Mile 2 along with other plaintiffs where she had been detained for one month before being brought to Janjanbureh’s prison. In Mile 2, she had not received any medical treatment. The cells were very dirty, scruffy, and smelling bad. She had to sleep on the floor for a while. She was forbidden to receive family and lawyer visits.
In Janjanbureh, the detention conditions were even worse than in Mile 2. Her cell had no window, and the food was awful. She felt sick several times there and had absolutely no contact with the outside world. She heard that a lawyer tried to visit her but the guards told her/him that she was not detained there. Political opponents who were detained were treated like animals.
Today, she still suffers from severe physical damages.
At the time, a brutal dictatorship was ongoing in The Gambia, and she hopes that this will never happen again anywhere in the world.
The second plaintiff to testify explained that she was arrested on 14 April 2016 and taken to the PIU’s HQ where she was hurt and humiliated. She did not see Ousman Sonko there. Along with other arrestees, she was escorted to a PIU truck and driven to Mile 2 and then to the NIA premises.
There, she was blindfolded, and submitted to torture. She was then presented before a panel who interrogated her, notably about the participation of other persons to the protest. She was subsequently severely beaten again.
During her time in Mile 2, there was no doctor, only a medical assistant. In order to have access to medication, one needed the support from ones’ family– which was her case. Neither did she have access to a lawyer. In the overcrowded narrow cell of the prison, conditions were very poor. Some women had unwanted pregnancies. Detainees had to sleep on the floor.
In Janjanbureh, she was not allowed to have family or lawyer visits. Nobody could have known that she – and other plaintiffs – were detained there. The hygiene conditions were bad.
As a final statement, she asked the Court to understand that The Gambia went through a lot. People died and disappeared. What took place in the country should never happen again. Her prayers were sent to all the victims, some of whom were not here anymore.
| A third plaintiff, who endured similar offenses in April 2016 onwards, had been fighting for justice in the proceedings against Ousman Sonko for several years. Indeed, in June 2017, she filed a complaint against him in Switzerland for the acts of torture she endured back then. Sadly, she passed away before having been able to tell her story before the Court. TRIAL International’s thoughts are with her and her family members who could not be present at the Court. |
Coming next: interrogation of Ousman Sonko in relation to these events