Beginning of the plea in the trial of the former Gambian Interior Minister: “When Alexei died, my world collapsed”: that was Navalny’s funeral

The trial against former Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko continues today, Monday, with the pleas in the criminal chamber of the Federal Criminal Court. Federal prosecutors have charged him with crimes against humanity.

She accuses the 54-year-old of intentional murder, serious bodily harm, endangering life, rape and other criminal offenses. The crimes took place between January 2000 and September 2016. The Gambian is said to have committed most of the crimes in collaboration with the West African country’s then president, Yahya Jammeh, as well as senior members of the security forces and prison services.

The first part of the main procedure took place in January. The court has questioned numerous private plaintiffs about the torture and ill-treatment they suffered. They accused Sonko, among other things, of being a member of a committee that had to investigate the background to an attempted coup in 2006 and therefore ordered torture.

Allegations dismissed

The suspect denied all allegations during the trial. He denied having any authority over the special paramilitary Junglers unit. He is held responsible for countless torture and extrajudicial killings in Gambia.

He also vehemently denied that he was the right-hand man of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, even though he long held the position of Minister of the Interior. He was never treated differently from other members of the government.

During the sixteen-year period in which the accused crimes fall, Sonko made a career within the civil service. From May 2003 he quickly rose through the ranks in the State Guard. In February 2005 he was appointed Inspector General of Police and in November the following year Minister of the Interior.

He was removed from office in September 2016. Before his arrest in January 2017, he lived undisturbed in the transit asylum center Kappelen-Lyss BE.

Sonko has been in custody since his arrest in 2017. The Appeals Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court confirmed the preventive detention until a first instance judgment is available. She assumes there is a danger of escape.

The Appeals Chamber has rejected a request for recusal against the President in his case, filed after the first part of the main hearing. (Case SK.2023.23) (saw/sda)