NIA 9 Case Fails to Proceed

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By Yankuba Jallow

The criminal trial involving former staff of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) failed to proceed on Monday and Tuesday for different reasons.

On Monday it failed because the Judge did not come, while on Tuesday there was no interpreter to interpret the proceeding.

On Monday, both the prosecution and defence lawyers sat for about an hour waiting for the judge to appear, but they were told to come on Tuesday.

When they came on Tuesday, Babucar Sallah, who is the 4th accused person in this trial chose to testify in the Mandinka Language. The interpreter came, but told the court his voice was down.

The case was adjourned to next week Monday at 1 pm for hearing. Sallah will open his defence on Monday.

The seven accused persons are standing trial on 25 criminal counts including murder, torture and conspiracy. They denied culpability. The accused persons have been in detention for 4 years now.