Sonko’s alleged victims with their lawyers outside the Swiss Federal Criminal Court
BELLINZONA, (Switzerland) Jan. 12, New Narratives/GNA — A witness and plaintiff alleging that Ousman Sonko oversaw a hit squad that tortured and raped her, took the stand in the crimes against humanity trial of the Gambian former interior minister in the Swiss city of Bellinzona on Thursday.
Sonko was the police chief under ex-president Yahya Jammeh from 2005 to 2006. In the latter part of 2006, he was appointed minister of interior, a position he held from November 2006 to February 2012 and from May 2012 to September 2016.
The Swiss Attorney General’s office, along with 10 plaintiffs from Gambia, is accusing Sonko of torture, murder, false imprisonment, rape, and deprivation of liberty, allegedly perpetrated against Gambians during the 22-year rule of Gambia’s former dictator Jammeh.
The witness, who requested her name be concealed, had been accused of being involved in a foiled coup led by Colonel Ndure Cham, the army chief of defense staff. In the aftermath of the coup, several people—military officers and civilians—were rounded up, including the witness, who was a civilian.
A panel was established and composed of various heads of security institutions. Sonko allegedly sat on it, the witness testified.
Several investigations, including one by the country’s Truth Commission, established that such panels were confession exercises amid the beating by the Junglers, a paramilitary hit squad allegedly operating on the orders of Jammeh.
“They took me to a room. They removed my glasses, put a plastic bag over my head, and started beating me from all directions. That went on for a long time. They do this until you can’t breathe,” said the witness. After the beating, she was allegedly raped by one of the Junglers.
“One of them came in and turned off the light,” she said. “The whole room was dark. I thought I was going to be beaten again. I saw a Jungler with a mask. He jumped on me, opened my legs and started molesting me. He raped me.”
Emotional scars of the incident
The witness had no means of identifying the person who raped her, and she is not accusing Sonko personally. According to her, Sonko, who at the time of her arrest was the police chief, formed part of the panel that supervised her torture and maltreatment. (Binta Jamba, the first plaintiff to take the stand against Sonko on Wednesday, accused Sonko personally of raping her.)
Today’s witness, who broke down several times, told the court the rape left a lasting physical and emotional scar. “I could not bear to come close to a man. I had to end the relationship with a man I was about to marry,” she said. “Until now, I can’t sleep with the lights off. I am afraid of the dark.”
The witness was the second plaintiff to testify in connection to the torture that occurred in the aftermath of the 2006 coup. The first to take the stand was Lt Col Bunja Darboe.
“Jammeh’s government was a dictatorship. There were a lot of human rights violations. Jammeh had a lot of enablers. Ousman Sonko was one of them,” Darboe told the court on Thursday. The trial continues tomorrow with the testimony of Demba Dem, a torture victim.
Sonko has denied all allegations against him.
GNA
BAS
12 Jan 2024
This was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
