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A Gambian court on Wednesday sentenced an ally of ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh to death for his role in the murder of a former finance minister, an AFP journalist noted.
Jammeh came to power in 1994 as part of a bloodless military coup in the small West African state.
He then ruled with an iron fist until January 2017, when he fled to Equatorial Guinea after losing the presidential elections to an unknown relative, Adama Barrow.
The Gambian government subsequently created a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to investigate abuses during the Jammeh era, which heard several hundred testimonies between 2019 and May.
But Yankuba Touray, a member of the junta that ruled The Gambia for about two years after the 1994 coup, refused to testify before the TRRC in 2019.
Prosecutors then charged him with the 1995 murder of former finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay.
On Wednesday, the capital Banjul court found Touray guilty of the murder, according to an AFP journalist present.
Gambia. By AFP (AFP) “The death penalty will be by hanging,” Judge Jaiteh told the courtroom.
He added that Touray had assured that no investigation had been carried out after the murder and that the body of the victim was “burned to the point of being unrecognizable”.
The Gambian government imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in 2018, although the penalty is still in effect.
A lawyer for Yankuba Touray said Jammeh’s ex-ally would appeal the court ruling.
Touray’s lawyers initially argued that as a former member of the junta, the constitution guaranteed him immunity from prosecution.
But the Gambian Supreme Court rejected this argument.
The TRRC is expected to report back on its findings this month. Victims hope the findings will pave the way for accusations against the ex-dictator himself.
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