(acts of torture, false imprisonment and sexual violence committed as crimes against humanity)

As part of an attempted coup d’état in March 2006, Ousman Sonko is being accused, as an accomplice of a group of perpetrators, of having tortured various people, including members of the army, politicians and journalists, of having illegally deprived them of their freedom, as well as of having committed a rape in Banjul, The Gambia.

Ousman Sonko was called to testify and confronted with the results of the investigation as well as with the plaintiffs’ additional statements made before the Court, with regards to the above-mentioned charges.

The accused explained that the Gambian police was one of the most respected forces. He then repeated that he only had non-operational duties as Inspector General of Police (IGP) and that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has never been under his control. All investigative panels were set under the NIA and upon Yahya Jammeh’s orders. He contested the TRRC’s conclusions stating that he was responsible, as IGP, for the torture of people allegedly involved in the coup attempt.

Amongst other statements, he affirmed the following:

To the plaintiffs who stated having seen him in police uniform as part of the investigative panel, the accused answered either that it could have been possible, or that he had no recollection of this. It was however not correct to say that he was the highest-level in the hierarchy within the panel. He was only requested by the Chief of Defense Staff to select police officers to take part to the panel.

Regarding the press articles of March 2006 stating that journalists arrested by the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) were presented to the accused, he questioned their sources.

Ousman Sonko then explained that, on 21 March 2006, he was a member of the panel for the first time only as an observer and the interrogations had already started. He visited the panel once or twice. His presence was required – along with other officials – to release people and to apologize for their arrest and subsequent detention. The accused had no knowledge of any acts of torture perpetrated by police officers during the detention of these persons.

As opposed to some plaintiffs’ testimonies, Ousman Sonko denied having witnessed violence taking place or injuries having been inflicted on victims by the panel members or before the panel. It was not within his power to prevent the actions of the perpetrators.

Confronted to WikiLeaks cables from the US Embassy in The Gambia according to which the PIU closed the office of The Independent, the accused argued that the PIU had been enforcing a Court order.

To the question whether he would have ordered or played a role in, as IGP or later as Minister of Interior, the detention of people for longer than 72 hours without charges, Ousman Sonko explained that the services under his control would not have done it, were it the case, it could only be an isolated incident.

Coming next: Evidence requests and procedural updates.