After having formally opened the session, the Court rejected the defense’s request to postpone the closing arguments to April 2024 in order for him to get more time to prepare his arguments and review the case in light of very recent case law.
The Court then gave the floor to the Prosecutor
“A system that must take life must first give justice” – this is with this quote from the West African Bar Association and after having recalled the historical dimension of the trial, that the Prosecutor started her pleadings.
Since the opening of the investigation, Ousman Sonko has denied the charges he is accused of as well as the criminal offenses and state repression committed by the government of Yahya Jammeh. He kept this line of defense until today and claims he is not responsible for any human rights violations that could have taken place in the country. He also distanced himself from the Junglers, the NIA and the armed forces by shifting the responsibility onto others.
The brutal 22 years of Yahya Jammeh’s Presidency – from the 1994 coup to his fall in 2017 – contrasted with the state of human rights in the Country under former President Dawda Kaibara Jawara. The investigation and the TRRC reports – that were useful to refer to historical and country-specific findings as well as to understand the Gambian legal system and compare the facts investigated in Switzerland with the domestic findings – showed how Yahya Jammeh, together with members of the security forces, ruled with violence from the very early years, pillorying high-ranking state employees of the former government, arresting and sometimes torturing them as well as suppressing and punishing any form of opposition and civil protests. These were the first steps of the systematic repression of the Gambian population that continued and increased over the years.
| “The government made no secret of the fact that it subordinated everything to maintain its power and was willing to commit crimes to do so: all those who were categorized as critical of the Government were branded enemies of the State, publicly intimidated, threatened and dehumanized.” |
Within this context, the Prosecutor noted that Ousman Sonko’s career rose exponentially until he acceded the position of Minister of Interior. Until he escaped the country in 2016, this shows that he clearly remained part of the inner circle of Yahya Jammeh.
Contextual elements of crimes against humanity
According to the Prosecutor, overarching contextual elements tend to demonstrate that an attack was directed against the civilian population during the reign of Yahya Jammeh between July 1994 and the end of 2016. Thus, the crimes committed under his presidency were crimes against humanity.
With regards to the extent of the attack against the civilian population, the prosecutor highlighted that the means used ranged from arbitrary arrests, unlawful imprisonments, torture and inhumane treatments as well as rapes and other forms of sexual violence. Referring to the TRRC findings, it was recalled that at least 214 to 250 people were extrajudicially executed during the Jammeh Presidency and hundred more had been victims of other crimes against humanity. Such attack expanded to all the Gambian regions as well as to at least 67 non-Gambian nationals.
| “The crimes committed during Yahya Jammeh’s government were part of a repressive policy that disenfranchised the civilian population attacked on Gambian territory.” |
The Prosecutor considered the systematic nature of the attack to be demonstrated based on the following elements deriving from the casefile:
Firstly, it was proven that a state collective of perpetrators acted together in an organized and coordinated manner to commit crimes. On the one hand, the Gambian army, including the State guard, the NIA and the Junglers were under the orders of the President and on the other hand, the police – including the PIU – and the prison services were subordinated to the Ministry of Interior. Secondly, the prison conditions imposed on political enemies with the consent and under the responsibility of the Minister of Interior served the purpose of suppressing the political enemies of the State and deterring the public as well as breaking the resistance of political opponents. Thirdly, through the adoption of unilateral decrees, the government restricted or deprived the detainees from their rights. The Government also prevented the civilian population to successfully defend itself against the repressive state through the implementation of reforms of the justice sector as well as with targeted legal reforms. The judicial system in place also prevented perpetrators of human rights violations from being prosecuted and punished.
Within this context, Ousman Sonko occupied a leadership position. First, within the State Guard from the year 2000, he contributed to the repressive policy of the state apparatus in close coordination with the President and the NIA. From 2005, he then worked as Inspector General of Police (IGP) – the highest-ranking police officer in the country – and hence had command, overall supervision and leadership over the police force, responsibility to decide over the strategy, as well as over all operational, administrative and personal activities. From 2006, as Minister of Interior, his responsibilities and powers increased even more. He notably had the total control over the police authorities and services.
For these reasons, the Prosecutor argued that, given his far-reaching operational, coordinative and supervisory competences as Minister of the Interior, it should be ruled out that the accused had no knowledge that the state apparatus was securing its hold on power by violently repressing the civilian population.
| “The accused played an important role in this [criminal] system from the very beginning. He was neither an unwilling nor an unsuspecting tool of an all-powerful president, as he would have us believe[…]. Rather, as a close confidant of the president, he was fully aware that he was actively committed to realizing his “vision” – and thus the extensive and systematic attack against the civilian population – which secured him a long and highly successful career in the Gambia’s inner circle of power. The minimum requirement that he acted with knowledge of the overall attack must therefore be considered more than fulfilled.“ |
Coming next: Prosecutor’s closing arguments with regards to Ousman Sonko’s responsibility over specific charges brought against him between 2000 and 2016.