By Yankuba Jallow
The criminal trial involving Mr Borry J. Saidy suffered a setback due to the absence of the trial magistrate. The 
former Acting Manager of Air Traffic Services at the Banjul International Airport is alleged to have written to the Office of the President claiming an unfair treatment which information he knew or believed to be false and had thereby committed an offence, charges he denied. The accused is alleged to have written to the Office of President Jammeh claiming an unfair treatment which information he knew or believed to be false and thereby committed an offense. He is charged with ‘giving false information to a civil servant’ contrary to Section 114 of the Criminal Code of The Gambia
The defence counsel has filed ‘no case submission’ twice and the court held that it ruled against its previous ruling. The defence counsel Bory S. Touray applied for a ‘no case submission’ because the matter at hand is not a criminal matter because in criminal proceedings, he said the law takes its course notwithstanding the change of government and counsel Touray further submitted that the petition which generated this criminal action was addressed to Yahya Jammeh and that there is a constitutional overthrow of his government. He further argued that the accused person exercised his freedom by virtue of Section 25 (f) which gives one the right to petition the executive, there is no law in the country which caters for citizens to petition the executive except the constitution and that there is nowhere under section 25 where this right has been derogated. Inspector Gibba argued that the matter at hand is a criminal matter.
