The decision follows years of legal wrangling and intense public scrutiny, as Touray’s case has remained a focal point in the nation’s reckoning with its dictatorial past. His 2021 conviction for the murder of former Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay in 1995 initially led to a death-by-hanging sentence, igniting fierce debate over capital punishment and justice for crimes committed during the military era.
While affirming Touray’s guilt, the Supreme Court questioned the appropriateness of the death penalty in this context. The judges highlighted concerns around due process and the need to align sentencing with modern constitutional values and evolving human rights standards. The court held that life imprisonment was a more fitting punishment given the circumstances and contemporary legal norms.
Touray’s journey to the Supreme Court was a last-ditch effort to overturn a conviction that has defined his post-junta fate. He challenged the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which had previously affirmed the High Court’s decision delivered by Justice Ebrima Jaiteh, finding him guilty and sentencing him to death by hanging.
After the High Court verdict on July 14, 2022, Touray took his case to the three-member Court of Appeal, hoping to escape the noose. However, the Appeal Court stood by the initial ruling, reinforcing the weight of the evidence presented.
Not willing to surrender, Touray escalated his fight to the Supreme Court. In his grounds of appeal, he argued that the lower courts had failed to adequately scrutinise the prosecution’s evidence. He sought to have the Supreme Court overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision and declare his innocence.
While the Supreme Court upheld the conviction, Touray would now be imprisonment for life at the Mile II Central Prison.
