Gambia’s former interior minister, Ousman Sonko— 54— is facing multiple charges of crimes against humanity in Switzerland. The trial will begin on January 8, 2024, before the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland. If convicted, Sonko will be the second minister under former president Yahya Jammeh to be convicted  for crimes committed in Jammeh’s  22-year rule. Yankuba Touray, a former local government minister, was convicted by the High Court in Banjul in July 2021 for participating in the murder of former finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay. Ceesay was murdered in June 1995. 

Brief work profile

Mr Sonko started his career as a military officer in 1988. He rose through the ranks to become the commander of the State Guards, the elite unit in charge of the security of the Gambian presidency in July 2003. 

He would briefly leave this position by the end of 2003 with a deployment to military headquarters in Banjul, from where he was also briefly appointed commanding officer of the Yundum Barracks in December 2004. 

In 2005, he was appointed as the Inspector General of the Gambia Police. He would soon be elevated to be in charge of the internal security of the country. In 2006, he was appointed Minister of Interior— a position he held from November 2006 to February 2012 and from May 2012 to September 2016. 

Arrest in Switzerland

Sonko was one of the longest serving ministers in the government of Yahya Jammeh. In September 2016, five months after an unprecedented protest in Banjul leading to torture and death in state custody of opposition activist Ebrima Solo Sandeng, Sonko left the country. It is unclear what caused his fallout with Jammeh. 

He went to Switzerland and sought political asylum. He was arrested in January 2017 upon a criminal complaint against him by Geneva-based Trial International. 

Why in Switzerland? 

Ousman Sonko is being tried on the principle of universal jurisdiction (UJ). The UJ is an important principle in international law which allows countries to prosecute international crimes committed in other countries. This is based on the idea that fighting impunity for such crimes is borderless and that international crimes are crimes against all humanity, not just citizens of one jurisdiction. 

Sonko will be the third accused perpetrator  from the Yahya Jammeh regime to be charged/face legal proceedings  by foreign courts under this principle. Bai Lowe, a former driver of the Junglers implicated in the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara in December 2004, was sentenced to life in Germany on November 30, 2023. Michael Sang Correa is scheduled to be tried in America in September 2024. Ousman’s trial comes up on January 8, 2024. Meanwhile, one alleged torturer and former staff of the National Intelligence Agency, Alagie Morr, is also being investigated by the police in Scotland.  

Charges

Sonko has been indicted for crimes against humanity. The crimes he is charged with includes murder, rape, false imprisonment, torture, among others. He faces 10 Gambian claimants in the 3-week trial which ends by January 30.  

Major allegations 

• Rape. Sonko faces allegations of raping Binta Jamba, a wife of Almamo Manneh— a former State Guards soldier once popular for his loyalty to Yahya Jammeh. Jamba claimed being repeatedly abused and raped by Sonko from January 2000 to January 2005.  
• Murder. Sonko faces allegations of participating in the murder of Almamo Manneh in January 2000. Manneh was a former member of the elite guards of the Gambian presidency, State Guards, who was accused of being part of a coup.
• Murder. Sonko is accused of participating in the murder of a former ally of Yahya Jammeh, Mr Baba Jobe. Jobe was killed on his hospital bed at the country’s main referral hospital in Banjul in October 2011. 
• Torture. Sonko is accused of participating in the torture of several civilian and military officers accused of plotting to overthrow Jammeh’s regime in March 2006. 
• Torture. Sonko is also accused of participating in the torture of opposition political activists in April 2016, leading to the murder of Ebrima Solo Sandeng. At least 5 ‘victims of torture’ in that incident have since died, and one of them— Nogoi Njie— was expected to testify against Sonko in Switzerland.  

Sonko before Gambia’s Truth Commission 

After the fall of former president Jammeh, his successor Adama Barrow instituted a commission of inquiry into his alleged human rights violations. In July 2022, the country’s Ministry of Justice published a list of 90 adversely mentioned individuals found to have been involved in human rights violations. Sonko was on the list and he is implicated in, among others, the coverup which followed the torture and execution of 51 West African migrants in the Gambia in 2005. 

Where will he serve?

If convicted, Sonko risks a prison sentence of 20 years. Life imprisonment can be pronounced for such an offense in case of “aggravated crimes against humanity” which has never been judged in Switzerland. He will serve his term somewhere in Switzerland. 

Alieu Kosiah, a Liberian rebel commander, was convicted in 2022 in Switzerland’s first universal jurisdiction trial.

Will Gambian media cover the trial?

The Malagen, supported by New Narratives, will cover the trial. While Malagen will make reports for its audience, it will also make reports from the court available for free use to Gambian media. Its reporter will also be available for interviews by all platforms interested in broadcasting or publishing information from the trial. 

The Court 

The trial will be held at the Federal Criminal Court established in Bellinzona on 1 April 2004. The court comprises three chambers: the Criminal Chamber and two Appeals Chambers. The language of the court will be German. The trial will be presided over by a 3-judge panel.

This factsheet was published with the support from the UN Peacebuilding Fund through UNESCO Dakar office under the project: countering hate speech and promoting responsible digital citizenship in The Gambia. The project is being implemented by the Open Media Centre (OMC), the publisher of Malagen.