By: Kebba AF Touray
The Gambia Center for Human Rights Violations and the Democratic Union of Gambian Activists, held a meeting with the aim of sharing ideas in order to pave the way for providing justice to victims of the former Government. The meeting was held at the Victim Center in Kololi on Saturday 6thJanuary 2018.
Speaking in an interview with Foroyaa, Pa Samba Jow the Vice Chairperson of DUGA, said the aim of the meeting was to hear the stories of the victims and to work together towards advocating for redress to their rights that have been violated under the Jammeh regime.
“The advocacy would start so that there would be justice for these victims. The form of justice it would take, has to be looked into and people who have committed crimes like ex-president Jammeh should be prosecuted”, he stressed
He said “Jammeh has to pay for his crimes. ‘‘You cannot kill people, violate their rights and go free. Jammeh must pay for his crimes and that is not negotiable,” Jow stated. Jow said it will be a grave mistake for anybody in or out of Government, to let Jammeh go; that if such a thing happens, DUGA will take the stiffest resistance to ensure that Jammeh faces the law, pointing out that there is substantive evidence to prosecute him for his 22 years’ reign of the country. “The country has to endeavor to indict Yahya Jammeh either ways-domestically or in absentia”, he disclosed
Jow called on Government to prioritize the victims in their agenda noting that it was through the mass victimization and gross violations of peoples’ rights by the former president Jammeh that had compelled the entire citizenry to come together and unseat him in the 2016 December presidential pools.
A Gambian-Swedish MP, Momodou Malcom Jallow has assured his support to the victims victimized by former President Yahya Jammeh and the Victim Center in the country; that on his return to Sweden, he will strive to facilitate any form of support to the Victim Center and victims of ex-president Jammeh; that it is pivotal to investigate and prosecute people who committed crimes against humanity, urging Government to conduct a thorough investigation into all crimes that occurred under Jammeh’s regime and bring the culprits to justice.
Hon. Jallow, who also doubles as a human rights activist, pledged to disseminate the stories told at the victim center around the world, to help him facilitate extra support and bring the perpetrators to justice. “You cannot commit crimes against humanity and continue to be in the street and having high positions in office. That is not fair. That is not justice and that is not due process. Because we have a mutual interest in making sure that the people who have been victimized by the previous government would have the justice needed including the reparation. A lot of them are severely ill and injured not only psychologically but also physical injury,” he concluded.
