Ousman Sonko’s defense lawyer demands acquittal
Published: Wednesday, Mar 6th 2024, 19:31
Updated At: Wednesday, Mar 6th 2024, 19:32
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The defense lawyer of the Gambian former interior minister Ousman Sonko has demanded an acquittal for his client. According to him, there was no widespread and systematic attack on the Gambian civilian population in the period from 2000 to 2016. The accused acts were individual acts for which his client was not responsible.
In support of his view on the general political situation during the period of the crime, the lawyer referred to asylum decisions by the Federal Administrative Court concerning people from Gambia. In each case, the Federal Administrative Court stated that there was no war or civil war in the small West African country and that there was no situation of general violence.
In his plea, the defense lawyer quoted from a 2009 ruling in which the Federal Administrative Court described The Gambia as a tourist paradise with luxury hotels and vacation villages on its coast. The lawyer also pointed out that the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) had carried out situation analyses throughout the entire period in order to ensure the admissibility of returns of rejected asylum seekers.
According to the lawyer, because the requirement of a systematic attack on the civilian population is not met, there can be no crimes against humanity. Individual offenses would therefore have to be investigated in accordance with ordinary criminal law. As the defense lawyer pointed out, the crimes in this case are time-barred or he considered Sonko's involvement to be unproven.
Permissible arrests
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) lists a total of 13 victims over a period of 16 years. There is a lack of connection between these cases, which are divided into five thematic complexes. The lawyer explained the killing of a member of the military in 2000, who was a confidant of the then President Yayah Jammeh, by the fact that he had wanted to evade arrest. The man was suspected of having taken part in an attempted coup.
According to the prosecution, his wife was subsequently raped countless times by Sonko and unlawfully detained. The woman had various reasons for telling the untruth, the defense lawyer explained. The failure of her husband's coup had deprived her of the opportunity to become the country's first lady, which she might have wished for if she had succeeded.
Regarding the arrests of the later victims of torture following a coup attempt in 2006 and a demonstration in 2016, the lawyer confirmed that the arrests were permissible. An investigation would be carried out in every country after a coup attempt.
And the arrests at a demonstration by opposition members in 2016 were also permissible as such. For one thing, the organizers had not obtained a permit. And it was less of a peaceful demonstration and more of a riot.
It is completely unacceptable that the detainees were tortured by members of the Junglers paramilitary unit. The interrogations of the detainees took place at the secret service, and Sonko had no authority over them or the Junglers.
Sonko also had no influence on the prison conditions of those affected. The security wing of Mile 2 prison in the capital Banjul was under the aegis of the military and therefore under President Jammeh.
Six-figure compensation demanded
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has charged Sonko with crimes against humanity and is demanding a life sentence. After his dismissal as interior minister in September 2016, Sonko fled to Switzerland, where he applied for asylum.
For the time spent in custody since January 25, 2017, he is demanding compensation of CHF 200 per day - a total of CHF 519,000. Sonko also wants to be compensated around CHF 290,000 for the days spent in detention under allegedly unlawful conditions. Sonko is also demanding compensation of an additional CHF 10,000 for what his lawyer claims was a complete food deprivation lasting 33 hours in February 2020. (Case SK. 2023.23)
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