Sulayman
Trawally, a native of Garawol Kuta village in the Kantora District of the Upper
River Region, who was reportedly shot and kidnapped by the Senegalese
gendarmerie, yesterday appeared in a court in Tamba Counda, south Senegal, The
Point has been reliably informed.
The
Senegalese gendarmerie last month reportedly entered Gambian territory
illegally, opened fire in the village and allegedly shot Sulayman Trawally in
his hand. Trawally, who is married with three wives, was detained in a prison in Tamba Counda,
awaiting trial.
Baba
Seedy Trawally, a brother to Sulayman Trawally, who spoke to our reporter in an
interview confirmed that his brother (Sulayman Trawally) was arranged in court
on Wednesday, saying “one of my younger brothers in Tamba Counda was able to
hire a lawyer for (Sulayman Trawally).”
The
matter, he went on, has been adjourned to 8 April 2020. “What disappoints me
more is the fact that since the incident happened, The Gambia government never
issued any statement to condemn the illegal kidnapping of its citizen. I would
have expected the government to work closely with their Senegalese counterpart
to ensure the safe release of my brother.”
He
added: “Even if he had committed serious crime and ran into the country, I
thought the Senegalese gendarmerie should have followed the right protocol in
arresting him. He didn’t commit any crime. He (Sulayman Trawally) was shot in
our compound and the Senegalese gendarmerie in a convoy opened fire at our village,
causing panic in the entire village,” he said.
It
could be recalled that last month, Binta Trawally, a sister to Sulayman, who
visited him at the hospital where he (Sulayman Trawally) was undergoing medical
treatment, described her brother’s situation as “sad” and urged The Gambia
government to do everything to facilitate his release.
“When
I arrived at the hospital, I found my brother in handcuff with three
gendarmeries guarding him. Whatever he wants to do, the officers would be
following him. The sad thing is that he was handcuffed in the hospital bed,”
she told our reporter through a telephone interview yesterday.
Quizzed
as to whether Sulayman Trawally had been charged at the time of her visit, she
said the only thing the gendarme officers told her was that Trawally was a drug
peddler and that they would jail him.
“In
fact to my surprise, the officers said they were going to take him from the
hospital while he is still in pain,” she stated. She added that “Sulayman
Trawally in his hospital bed told me that the Senegalese officers wanted to
jail him for no reasons whatsoever.”
