SERREKUNDA, The Gambia (AP) – The West African regional bloc ECOWAS agreed on Sunday to establish a special court to try crimes committed in The Gambia during its military dictatorship.
The important decision was announced at a summit of regional heads of state in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
The court will cover crimes committed under the military dictatorship Yes Jammehwhose rule from 1996 to 2017 was marked by arbitrary arrests, sexual abuse and extrajudicial killings. Jammeh lost a presidential election in 2016 and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea a year later after initially refusing to resign.
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Calls for justice for the victims of the dictatorship had been growing for years in Gambia, a country surrounded by Senegal except for a small Atlantic coast. In 2021, the country's truth commission concluded its hearings with strong recommendations, urging the government to try the perpetrators.
In May, Jammeh had the former interior minister sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Swiss court for these crimes against humanity. In November, a German court convicted by a Gambian manBai Lowe, of murder and crimes against humanity for his involvement killing government critics in the Gambia. The man was a driver for a military unit deployed against Jammeh's opponents.
Gambia's Ministry of Justice described the move as a “historic development” that “marks a major step forward for The Gambia, the region and the international community” in a statement.
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