Source Trial International:
Reported by Kemeseng Sanneh (Kexx)
Ousman Sonko is also charged with acts of torture, false imprisonment and sexual violence committed as crimes against humanity)
On the alleged attempted coup d’état in March 2006, Ousman Sonko is being accused, as an accomplice of a group of perpetrators, of having tortured various people, including members of the army, politicians and journalists, of having illegally deprived them of their freedom, as well as of having committed rape in Banjul (The Gambia).
The first witness (plaintiff) called in the witness box a Gambian citizen who started his career within the Gambian police force before being integrated into the national army. In March 2006, his military superior – Ndure Cham – was accused by the Gambian government of having fomented a coup d’état. He said he (the witness/plaintiff) was arrested within the frame of the investigation related to this event.
The witness (Planiff) provided his statement and recalled having been arrested on 21 March 2006. He testified during his first night of incarceration, he was brought from the Mile 2 prison to the premises of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and he found the members of the Army of the so-called Junglers, the NIA as well as, notably, Ousman Sonko, along with the former Deputy Chief of Defense Staff and the head of the police major crime unit were setting up an investigation panel.
The witness (plaintiff) further explained that on the night of his arrest, he was violently interrogated about his suspected participation in the coup. He was afterwards taken several other times to the NIA and subjected to acts of torture and also threatened with death with weapons.
He testified that on several occasions, he was forced to sign statements against his will which resulted in beatings and he still suffers from serious physical and mental after-effects of the acts of torture he has been subjected to. The witness (planifff) saw the wounds.
He recalled that the panel members – including Ousman Sonko and he (Sonko) knew very well that people were being tortured within the frame of this investigation. The witness (plaintiff) said he was only taken before a judge months after his arrest and was convicted – along with other persons – to very long prison sentences. He spent nine years in prison in difficult conditions.
He testified during that time the country was under extreme dictatorship. People were arrested and imprisoned without being brought before court while others disappeared and people were living in constant fear.
Next: Continuation on the March alleged coup plotters’ torture events
