He added that the families of those victims deserved to be present at the trial.
Hon. Madi Ceesay, who doubles as the chairperson of the National Assembly (NA) Human Rights Committee, was in Dakar, Senegal, for a two-day conference alongside the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, civil society organisations and victims of former president Yahya Jammeh to discuss how Chadians were able to bring their former president, Hissène Habré, to justice so that Gambians could learn from that in order to bring Jammeh to justice.
Organised by the African Network Against Extrajudicial Killing and Disappearance (ANEKED), the conference was an interface with Chadians.
As a representative and the chairperson of the NA Human Rights Committee, Hon. Ceesay said Gambian victims need to take the lead as the Chadian victims did and all other contributors and stakeholders to follow suit.
He added that if Yahya Jammeh is to be brought to justice, the victims have to take the lead and they must not also lose sight as crimes against the former president are just allegations and that is why he needs to be tried.
“In order to succeed in bringing back ex-president Jammeh, we need some legal reforms and a strong political commitment like how the Chadians did,” Hon. Ceesay said.
He said further that the Government of The Gambia has to take the lead role in order to succeed in bringing Yahya Jammeh back.
He added that if Jammeh has to face justice, The Gambia must have the cooperation of Equatorial Guinea or else other international bodies will come in.
