Ousman Sonko, former interior minister of The Gambia who served under the leadership of the former Gambian dictator, Yahya Jammeh is currently on trial in a federal court in Switzerland, making him the highest-ranking official from Jammeh’s regime to face trial for widespread human rights abuses.
Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a bloodless military coup in 1994, ruled The Gambia until 2016. His regime was characterized by autocracy, harsh crackdowns on opposition members and critics, assassinations, enforced disappearances, and mass killings. The Junglers, a notorious death squad, was employed to target Jammeh’s enemies and carry out his orders.
Ousman Sonko, who served as Jammeh’s interior minister from 2006 to 2016, is accused of complicity in torture, murder, and rape during this period. As the head of the police, intelligence agency, prison services, and the Junglers, Sonko is alleged to have played a significant role in the human rights abuses committed under Jammeh’s rule.
Specifically, Sonko has been accused of being involved in the killing of Almamo Manneh, a member of the State Guards suspected of planning a countercoup, as well as raping Manneh’s wife multiple times after her husband’s assassination.
Sonko applied for residency in Sweden in September 2016 but was denied. He is believed to have moved on to Switzerland, where he was arrested at a center for asylum seekers in January 2017. The Swiss attorney general formally charged Sonko on April 19, 2023, with crimes against humanity, accusing him of supporting, participating in, and failing to prevent “systematic and generalized attacks” launched by Jammeh’s security forces.
If convicted, Sonko could face a life imprisonment term. His trial is significant not only for seeking justice for the victims of Jammeh’s regime but also for Switzerland, as it represents one of the few cases where individuals accused of crimes against humanity are being prosecuted under the universal jurisdiction principle, which allows the trial of alleged offenders on Swiss soil, irrespective of their citizenship. Sonko is the second person to be tried under this rule in Switzerland since its enforcement in 2011.
