A former interior minister and enforcer of the violent dictatorship of Gambia was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Swiss Federal Court on Wednesday after being found guilty of crimes against humanity for torturing and executing civilians.
One plaintiff called the verdict a “milestone” for the victims, which came after a landmark trial and was closely watched by victims of government repression.
former minister, Osman SonkoThe 55-year-old was found guilty of multiple counts of intentional homicide, torture and false imprisonment as part of “a systematic attack on civilians” in the West African country, the court said.
His lawyer said he would appeal the verdict.
Mr Sonko, who moved to Switzerland in 2016 and has been detained since his arrest in 2017 when a human rights group in Geneva launched a criminal case against him, will spend a further 13 years in prison before facing deportation from The Gambia. The case is being heard in Switzerland under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute serious crimes regardless of where they occurred in the world.
Sonkoh served in a series of key security posts under Yahya Jammeh. Yahya Jammeh was an eccentric dictator who ruled Gambia for 22 years before fleeing to Equatorial Guinea after losing an election in 2017.
Mr Sonko rose from commander of the presidential guard to police chief and then interior minister, a post he held from 2000 to 2016. During this period, political opponents, journalists and government critics were “routinely subjected to torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions,” the court said.
Prosecutors accuse Sonko of being involved in the killing of Alameh Manneh, a soldier suspected of plotting the coup, and of beating and repeatedly raping Mr Manneh’s widow, Binta Jamba. He was also accused of torturing opposition leader Ebrima Solo Sandeng, who died in state custody in 2016.
The Swiss court did not consider his crimes to constitute serious crimes against humanity, which would have given him a life sentence, but instead sentenced him to the maximum possible sentence on lesser, non-serious criminal charges.
The court also did not rule on rape charges, despite Ms. Jamba’s testimony that he violently raped and tortured her. The charges were dropped because the court considered it a personal crime beyond its jurisdiction.
Annina Mullis, representing Ms Jamba, said the decision was part of a wider pattern of courts treating rape as part of systemic violence.
“It is disappointing that the courts have failed to take the opportunity to recognize that sexual violence is a tool of repression,” she said.
Benoit Meystre, a lawyer for TRIAL International, a Geneva-based legal advocacy group that filed suit against Sonko in 2016, called the verdict “historic.”
In recent years, the European Court of Justice has tried a number of individuals for crimes under universal jurisdiction, but Mr Sonko, a former government minister, was the most senior state official to be prosecuted, he said, reminding people that rank does not determine Impunity is guaranteed.
Fatoumatta Sandeng, the daughter of the tortured opposition leader and the plaintiff in the case, was in court to hear the verdict. Later, she said in a statement: “I am very pleased and relieved. This verdict is an important milestone for us victims.”
She also said it was “good to hear” that the court had finally admitted Mr Sonko was responsible for her father’s death.
Her lawyer, Nina Burri, expressed regret that the court had not considered the sexual violence charges as crimes against humanity, but called the verdict an “important step in the fight against impunity” that showed that even at the highest levels Officials also “cannot conceal it and will be punished.” Be responsible. “
“We will definitely have a second trial,” Philippe Currat, a lawyer for Mr. Sankoh, said in a telephone interview after Wednesday’s verdict.
Kuralt said the court failed to distinguish between Sonko’s personal role in the incident and the roles played by other actors. “It’s not because he is a minister that he is responsible for everything that happens in the country,” the lawyer said.
Mr Sonko has defended himself by saying he had sought to professionalize the police but never took charge of the national intelligence agency, which has detained and tortured protesters including opposition leader Sanden.
Gambian activists say they hope Sonko’s trial will spur President Adama Barrow’s government to take long-promised action on victims’ demands for accountability for Jammeh-era crimes.
Other plaintiffs in The Gambia welcomed Wednesday’s verdict.
“Justice has finally come,” said Madi Ceesay, a journalist who was arrested and tortured in 2006 and wrote a column critical of coups, including the 1994 coup that brought Jammeh to power. Mr Sisay’s newspaper, The Independent, was also closed.
With Mr Sonko and Mr Jammeh wielding so much power, he said: “I never thought a day like this would come.”
Mr Sissa said that while he considered Mr Sonko a “central figure” in connection with his arrest and torture, Mr Jammeh also deserved justice.
“He is the biggest fish,” he said of Mr. Jammeh.
Sonko’s conviction is a lesson to dictators around the world that they will eventually be held accountable, he said, adding that “there is no place in the world where you can hide.”
