An enforcer for a strong president is put on trial in the Milestone Swiss case
For about 16 years, Ousman Sonko wielded far-reaching power in Gambia’s security apparatus, crushing opposition to the West African country’s authoritarian president.
On Monday, Mr. Sonko appeared before a Swiss court charged with crimes against humanity, in what lawyers call a major milestone for Gambia, Switzerland and the broader international efforts to prosecute war crimes and those who facilitated them.
In their indictment, Swiss prosecutors accused Mr. Sonko of, alone or as part of a group, “intentionally murdering, torturing, raping and unlawfully depriving individuals of their liberty.”
Mr Sonko, who turns 55 on Tuesday, denies the allegations. His lawyer, Philippe Currat, promised a stiff challenge to the allegations and the admissibility of the prosecution’s evidence. The alleged crimes took place between 2000 and 2016, a period of brutal repression in Gambia during which the president, Yahya Jammeh, tightened his grip on the country.
During that time, Mr. Sonko rose to become commander of the presidential guard, chief of police and interior minister, a portfolio he held for 10 years, making him Mr. Jammeh’s longest-serving minister.
The two men reportedly had a falling out in 2016 – the same year Mr Jammeh lost a bid for re-election and began a brief, unsuccessful attempt to hold on to power. After losing his job, Mr. Sonko sought asylum in Switzerland that year.
Swiss authorities arrested him in 2017 after TRIAL International, a human rights group based in Geneva, filed a criminal complaint against him under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows states to prosecute serious crimes regardless of where they were committed.
European prosecutors have investigated similar cases in recent years, including giving long prison sentences to two Syrian intelligence officials convicted of crimes against humanity in Germany in 2022, and a former Iranian prosecutor, arrested while traveling through Sweden and convicted of war crimes for his part in mass executions and torture. As a former minister, Mr Sonko is the highest-ranking state official to be tried in a European court on the basis of universal jurisdiction.
Mr. Sonko’s trial is being closely watched in Gambia, where victims’ demands for accountability from Mr. Jammeh and his allies are making slow progress. His successor, President Adama Barrow, has committed to prosecuting Mr Jammeh, who is now in exile in Equatorial Guinea. But he has also forged political alliances with members of the ex-president’s party, who are accused of trying to block any action.
“The Sonko trial is long overdue, the extent of suffering under his leadership in the Ministry of Interior is overwhelming,” Ayesha Jammeh, a relative of the ex-president whose father was killed by government agents in 2005, said by telephone from the capital of Gambia: Banjul, where she works in a center that supports victims of abuse.
“It is a happy moment to personally see people who have committed human rights violations finally brought to justice,” she added. “This tells them that it may take a long time, but eventually the arm of justice will catch up with them for the serious crimes they committed.”
The charges against Mr. Sonko include participating in the murder of a soldier accused of plotting a coup, Almamo Manneh, and repeatedly raping and beating the widow of Mr. Manneh, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit . He is also accused of involvement in the torture of a group of suspected coup plotters and in the arrest and torture of an opposition party leader, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, who died in state custody in 2016.
The hearing in the Swiss court is part of a series of international trials that Gambian activists hope will spur the government into action. A German court in November convicted Bai Lowe, member of an elite military unit, to life imprisonment for murder and crimes against humanity. Another member of the unit, Michael Correa, will stand trial in the United States in September cost of torture.
“These cases are very important for victims and survivors because it shows that some kind of justice is possible and shows The Gambia that it is important to move forward,” said Ela Mathews, attorney at the Center for Justice and Accountability, a group acting on behalf of some. plaintiffs in the Correa case.
After the German ruling in November, “every Gambian was interested,” recalls Fatoumatta Sandeng, the daughter of the murdered opposition leader and prosecutor in the Swiss trial.
“If the German government can do this, what about Gambia? What are you doing at Justice, what have you been doing all this time?” she asked. “It brings heat and I know the trial of Ousman Sonko will put more pressure on the Gambian government to do something.”
The trial is also something of a milestone for Switzerland, which rights activists say lags behind other European countries in prosecuting international crimes. The indictment against Mr. Sonko followed a complex six-year investigation, which included multiple visits by Swiss investigators to Gambia to interview victims and gather witness statements.
It could also set legal precedents, as it is the first Swiss case in which the suspect is charged not only for his own actions, but also for the actions of subordinates.
“With this case, the Swiss authorities demonstrate their will to thoroughly investigate international crimes and not to allow alleged perpetrators of violations to enjoy a safe haven here,” said Benoit Meystre, lawyer for TRIAL International.