MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2022) A group of international rights watchdogs on Thursday hailed the opening of the first German trial for grave rights crimes committed in Gambia, scheduled for April 25.
Human Rights Watch and several other advocacy organizations said that the accused, a 46-year-old Gambian national named Bai L., is charged with three cases of crimes against humanity committed when he was a member of a special unit of the Gambian paramilitary called the "Junglers" or "Patrol Team."
The paramilitary group is known to have killed political opponents, journalists and activists at the behest of former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, whose 22-year tenure was characterized by oppression, torture, sexual violence and other human rights violations against those perceived as a threat by the ex-president and his security staff.
Bai L. is accused of being a driver to the death squad, taking them to and from the scenes of their crimes. One of the victims, lawyer Ousman Sillah, sustained serious injuries and survived, while two others, journalist Deyda Hydara and Dawda Nyassi, were killed, the watchdog said.
"I want to see justice done for my father and for all the others who were victimized by Yahya Jammeh and his security forces. Everyone involved in the murder of my dad will face justice, and we won't stop until each one of them is brought to a court of law," son of the murdered journalist, Baba Hydara, was quoted as saying by the Human Rights Watch.
The ex-president himself has not faced trial yet and is still in exile in Equatorial Guinea, where he went after resignation in 2017.
