All cards are now on the table in the trial against Baboucar “Bai” Lowe in the German city of Celle. Yesterday, on Thursday 20 October, the Gambian defendant, a 47-year-old alleged ex-militiaman in his country, broke the silence and had his lawyer read out a statement that completely twisted the narrative that the prosecution had been trying to establish since the beginning of the trial in April.
Lowe, who appeared in court wearing a black hoody, grey jeans and black sneakers, is accused of crimes against humanity in conjunction with two murders and one attempted murder. He is alleged to have been a member of Gambian ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh’s notorious death squad known as the “Junglers”. According to the indictment, “the aim of [the Junglers’] operations was to intimidate the Gambian people and suppress the opposition.” One of the victims was journalist Deyda Hydara, whose son Baba Hydara has joined the proceedings as a plaintiff. Lowe is accused of being the death squad’s driver. He allegedly drove the killers to their missions and in one case used the car to block a victim’s vehicle. Among the evidence against Lowe is an interview he gave in 2013 to the oppositional US-based Freedom Radio, where he describes being present during the assassinations.
But yesterday, in his statement, Lowe claimed that he lied about his involvement with the Junglers.
“NOBODY TALKED ABOUT WHAT THE JUNGLERS DID”
It had been known beforehand that the statement would not contain a confession. But he “did not expect it to be that constructed”, said plaintiff lawyer Peer Stolle after the court session, which lasted 45 minutes. The statement had been translated to German and was read out by defence lawyer Matthias Kracke. In it, the defendant starts by talking about his personal background. He was born on the 14th of June 1975 as the oldest of seven children. His father died 19 years later, which is why Lowe was not able to go to university after graduating from high school. Instead, he worked in a gas station, until he decided to sign up with the military. After completing basic training, he worked in the State House, the residence of then President Jammeh. In 2001, he was trained as a driver and practiced this profession for almost ten years. Even though, he said, “he tried to advance” in his career by participating in a training with Libyan soldiers, he kept working as a driver for the State House or for the border patrol.
Lowe claims that yes, there was a special patrol team of eight to thirteen men, who carried out the deadly attacks, but that he was not part of it. “I was aware that this team had been established”, he said through his lawyer in the court room. “They were executing the president’s orders. But nobody talked about what exactly it was that they did.” In 2005, he said, that unit was expanded and provided with black uniforms and black cars. They became known as the “Junglers”, “Black Black” or “Scorpions”. Later, he said, all of the other units received black uniforms, as well, and were called the same names. “Today I understand that they were trying to hide the Junglers in this way”, Lowe said in his statement.
He added that he did not find out what the Junglers did until 2006, when some of them told him about the killings.
