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.
| Procedural highlight: The Court accepted the Gambian newspaper articles regarding the execution of nine inmates in 2012 as evidence to be added to the casefile. |
Ousman Sonko was called to testify on the 14 April 2016 events.
The accused denied having been present at the Police Intervention Unit’s headquarters (PIU HQ) recalling that some people stated that they did not see him there. While he was not on site on the 14th, he was indeed there on 16 April 2016. For this reason, some people might have been confused. Additionally, he did not take part in the investigation panel at the NIA.
Ousman Sonko then reiterated that the command and the structure of the Junglers were not under his supervision.
He was then confronted with written notes – found by the police – in a suitcase seized where he had been arrested in 2017. The notes, among other things, say the following: “(…) during the Apr 14 & 16 incident he gave me instructions for the police to shoot and kill the opposition (…) ® took over the PIU”. The accused contested having had any document in the suitcase but confirmed it was his handwriting. He explained that the first part of the events mentioned in this note never happened and that the second part took place, however at a later time.
The second note said: “Directive to harass (…) and even to assassinate and not to issue permit for (…) I refused. (…) did not go well with him (…); Ordered me to instruct the police to shoot and kill the Apr. 14 & 16 demonstrators, I refused; Give directive for those arrested by the police to be handed over to the NIA, which I did. They were handed over to the NIA, that report directly to him. At the NIA, these people would be (were) tortured by the president spec paramitiliary forces called the black black or Junglers. The Junglers respond directly to the president. Those supporters of the UDP were severely tortured [resulting to the death of Solo SANDENG and others were severely wounded]” Ousman Sonko explained that it was not what it transpired, he wrote this note to support his asylum request.
Further, Ousman Sonko stated that it was not true to say that protesters were arrested in April 2016 because of their political opposition but the demonstration had taken place illegally. The arrests had hence nothing to do with a breach of their political rights or their freedom of association but were a security matter.
With regards to detention conditions in Mile 2, while he recognized that they were not the best, he repeated that he did everything in his power to improve them during his term at the Ministry. According to the law, it was not his role to visit detention places, but it was the prisons’ directors. As Minister, he had no operational duty and it was not his role to control David Colley (former Director General of prisons, DGP). Likewise, the decision to transfer detainees from a place of detention to another was under the DGP’s responsibility.
| Procedural highlight: At the hearing’s resumption on 18 January 2024, the filing, by the plaintiffs, of additional material related to the March 2006 events (archived Gambian newspaper articles), a video of June 2016 showing Ousman Sonko addressing publicly to a crowd as well as, inter alia, an Amnesty International letter confirming the list of reports that were released about the Gambian human rights situation under Yahya Jammeh and the numerous calls for “urgent actions” released by the Organization – where Ousman Sonko was suggested as a recipient as Minister of Interior, was discussed. The federal Prosecutor supported the requests to include this additional material into the casefile, arguing that it demonstrates the elements of an attack against the civilian population and particularly the attack against journalists. The defense deferred to the Court’s decision as to whether or not to accept these documents. After a short break, the Court accepted the material and other complementary reports as evidence to be added to the file, confirming that, prima facie, they are likely to provide additional information for the judges to decide on the existence of an attack against the population which is an element of the crime against humanity. |
The accused’s hearing then resumed. The Prosecutor confronted Ousman Sonko to the fact that he – for the first time in the proceedings – had just admitted that he had been the one writing the notes. He answered that the documents in question were not in his suitcase, that he was not present when the documentation was seized and that the police was best placed to answer where these documents had been found.
He did not admit that it was his handwriting during the investigation because he was exercising his right to remain silent and because he wanted to tell it to the Court. He refused to answer the question as to why, according to his recent statement, these notes were only partially reflecting the truth. He was then confronted to the fact that the only part where he said the notes were not true corresponded with the findings of the TRRC, with the declarations of the plaintiffs, as well as with the results of the Prosecutor’s investigation. He answered that there was nothing concrete and that everything was vague.
The Truth Reconciliation and Reconciliation Commission (TRRC) process was not a criminal proceeding where the witnesses’ testimonies would have been cross-examined. As a result, it could not be concluded that the final report of the TRRC reflects the reality.
Ousman Sonko repeated that the arrests in April 2016 were lawful and that there had been no offense perpetrated at the PIU. He was particularly not aware of any sexual assault that would have taken place there. He apologized for any inconvenience that might have been caused to the plaintiffs with regards to their detention conditions. It was not the result of a deliberate policy and it was nothing personal. He tried his best to improve the prison conditions. The DGP had the operational and administrative control over detention places. He then asked where it was written anywhere that the Minister of Interior must control the DGP.
Confronted to art. 92 of the Gambian prison Act – allowing the Minister of Interior to make rules with regards to prison management – he explained that this power to make rules was fundamentally different than operational and administrative tasks. He had no recollection of any report informing him that an inmate was not medically fit for prison (in reference to rules 13 of the subsidiary legislation of the prisons Act).
Amongst other statements, Ousman Sonko confirmed that the Ministry of Interior was a member of the Prison visiting committee, as file documents were indicating. However, he was not the one representing the Ministry during these visits. He did not see any letter that would have been sent to him within the frame of Amnesty International’s urgent calls.
Confronted to a Foroyaa article published in August 2012 titled “Ministry of Interior Statement on the Executions” which says: “The General Public is hereby warned that the rule of law as regards the peace and stability and the protection of lives, property and liberty will not be compromised for whatever reason”, Ousman Sonko asked what the problem with such a statement was. According to him, the recently filed press releases from February to May 2015 highlighting numerous arrests and illegal detentions were the demonstration that press was free.
He repeated that the NIA were never under his de facto or de jure control and that, as a result, he could not have taken any measure towards the Agency following the death of Solo Sandeng in April 2016. Likewise, it was not up to him to take measures regarding the individuals arrested on 14 April 2016, but to those under whose custody they were.
Questioned about the TRRC findings according to which Yahya Jammeh made public statements against Mandinkas such as: “I will wipe them out and nothing will come out of it” and that he would “kill the Mandinkas one by and place them were even a fly couldn’t find it” and also regarding a statement he had himself made while on a so-called Dialogue with the people Tour with the President in June 2016, stating that: “any demonstration would be banned and that all those who would demonstrate would regret this”, Ousman Sonko argued that this statement needed to be put back in context and that his words were not the cause of what had taken place on 14 April 2016, rather they had been a reaction to what had happened as a result of an unauthorized demonstration in 2000. Because similar protests had led to deaths and damages in the past (reference made to the April 2000’s demonstration), he did not want such events to happen again. By saying this, he wanted to prevent future unauthorized demonstrations.
Upon his lawyer’s questions, Ousman Sonko explained that in the event of protests, where demonstrators would refuse to disperse, arrests could take place. In April 2016, the protest leader knew that it was illegal and the police at Westfield intervened in accordance with the law.
Ousman Sonko further explained that he has always advocated against torture and undertaken efforts so that his subordinates would not resort to it. He heard that torture was used at the NIA when he was Minister of Interior, but he did not receive any details. As Minister, he was not empowered to take disciplinary measures against security forces and the police was not in a position to prevent torture from taking place at the NIA.
Regarding the written note discussed earlier, the accused reiterated that he was never ordered to shoot the protesters and would not have followed such an order. He did not participate to any Cabinet discussion during which an attack against the population would have been discussed. He also repeated that, as Minister, he did everything in his power to improve the prison conditions.
Coming next: Plaintiffs interrogation about the March 2006 events in relation to the persecution of journalists