Today, Monday, January 8, 2024, the trial against the former Gambian Minister of the Interior, Ousman Sonko, begins in Switzerland. Sonko, who was arrested in Bern on January 26, 2017, is facing charges of crimes against humanity.
Ousman Sonko operated during the two-decade dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh, serving as the Minister of the Interior in The Gambia from 2000 to 2016, a period during which he committed the alleged abuses.
Ousmane Sonko is accused of numerous crimes against humanity. In 2000, shortly after assuming the position of Minister of the Interior, he killed Almamo Manneh, a soldier suspected of being involved in a coup. Shortly after Manneh's death, Sonko repeatedly violated the widow from 2000 to 2002 and subsequently in 2005.
In March 2006, another coup led to the illegal detention and torture of prominent figures, including members of the military, politicians, and journalists. Additionally, in 2011, Ousman Sonko killed Baba Jobe, a former member of the national assembly.
A peaceful demonstration in April 2016 was violently suppressed by Sonko, and this repression was followed by the killing of Ebrima Solo Sandeng, considered one of the main organizers of the protest. In addition to this, there is the regular illegal detention and torture of various opposition members. Any threat to the government was promptly targeted and eliminated through beatings with fists and objects, burnings, poisonings, electric shocks, rapes, suffocation with plastic bags, and even live burials. Sonko, indeed, is to be considered a crucial figure in the dictatorship created by Yahya Jammeh, without whom the repression system would not have persisted.
Sonko is just one of many culprits. On December 24, 2021, the Gambian commission released a report regarding Jammeh's two decades in power. This report revealed that along with Jammeh, another 69 collaborators could be responsible for crimes against humanity.
Up to this point, only one Gambian official, Bai Lowe (in 2023), a former member of the paramilitary unit "Junglers" created by Jammeh, has been convicted. Lowe was accused of two murders and attempted murder, considered crimes against humanity, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Today, the trial against Sonko begins, but the road to justice in Gambia is evidently still very long.
The case against Sonko is a historic legal proceeding for three main reasons. Firstly, it marks the beginning of addressing the atrocities committed during two decades of dictatorship in The Gambia, thereby initiating a phase of transitional justice. Secondly, Sonko's trial is the second case of universal jurisdiction adjudicated by the Federal Criminal Court, following that of Alieu Kosiah in 2021. Lastly, it is crucial because a person of such high rank has never been prosecuted in Europe under universal jurisdiction.
Universal jurisdiction is, therefore, fundamental. “It is a principle that entails a state's jurisdiction over crimes against international law even when these crimes did not occur on its territory, and neither the victim nor the perpetrator is a citizen of that state. The principle allows national courts of third-party countries to address international crimes occurring abroad, hold the responsible individuals criminally accountable, and prevent impunity”.
This concept refers to the idea that a national court (in this case, the Swiss court) can prosecute individuals for serious crimes against international law (crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, torture) based on the principle that such crimes harm the international community or the international order itself.
Universal jurisdiction is invoked when there are no traditional bases for criminal jurisdiction to rely on. In Sonko's case, the accused is not a Swiss citizen, did not commit crimes on Swiss soil or against its citizens, and did not harm Switzerland's national interests. However, he did commit crimes against humanity, offenses too grave to tolerate the possibility of evading punishment. These crimes must, therefore, be prosecuted.
Italy does not recognize the principle of universal jurisdiction because it has not completed the process of aligning its domestic legal system with the Statute of the International Criminal Court, known as the Rome Statute. What is happening in Switzerland against Ousman Sonko today could never have occurred in Italy.
Mondo Internazionale APS - All Rights Reserved ® 2024
Translated by Stefania Errico
Share the post
L'Autore
Giorgia Milan
Giorgia Milan, classe 1998, ha conseguito una laurea triennale in “scienze politiche, relazioni internazionali e governo delle amministrazioni”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione femminile in Afghanistan, e successivamente una laurea magistrale in “Human rights and multi-level governance”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione delle donne rifugiate nel contesto dell’attuale guerra Russo-Ucraina, il tutto presso l’Università degli studi di Padova.
I suoi interessi principali sono i diritti umani, in particolare i diritti delle donne. È proprio il forte interesse per questi temi che l’ha spinta a intraprendere un tirocinio universitario presso il Centro Donna di Padova, durante il quale ha avuto la possibilità di approcciarsi al mondo della scrittura e della creazione di contenuti riguardanti la violenza di genere e le discriminazioni.
In Mondo Internazionale Post Giorgia Milan è un'autrice per l'area tematica di Diritti Umani.
Categories
Tag
Gambia CrimesAgainstHumanity Ousman Sonko