Sonko, standing trial, contested all the charges brought against him in relation to this plaintiff.
According to Trial International, the witness was called to provide his statement and recalled having been arrested on 21 March 2006. During his first night of incarceration, he was brought from the Mile 2 prison to the premises of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). There, members of the Army, of the so-called Junglers, and of the NIA as well as, notably, Ousman Sonko, along with the former Deputy chief of Defense Staff and the head of the police major crime unit set up an investigation panel.
The plaintiff further explained that the night of his arrest, he was violently interrogated on his suspected participation in the coup. He was afterwards taken several other times to the NIA and submitted to acts of torture. He was also threatened with death, including with weapons. On several occasions, he was forced to sign statements against his will. He still suffers from serious physical and mental after-effects of the acts of torture he had been subjected to.
He recalled that the panel members – including Ousman Sonko – knew very well that people were being tortured within the frame of this investigation. The accused actually saw the plaintiff’s own wounds.
The plaintiff was only taken before a judge months after his arrest and was convicted – along with other persons – to very long prison sentences. He spent nine years in prison in difficult conditions.
As for the Gambian context at the time, he explained that the country was under extreme dictatorship. People were arrested and imprisoned without being brought before court. Others disappeared. People lived in constant fear.
