A two-week hearing has begun at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in the case of former Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko, who is charged with multiple counts of crimes against humanity allegedly committed under the rule of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, according to TRIAL International, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization.
The hearing features five witnesses from the West African country, with a few more coming late in the case, and Sonko, represented by his lawyer and defense team, the organization added.
Swiss prosecutors accuse the former minister of "having supported, participated in and failed to prevent 'systematic and generalized attacks' as part of a repressive campaign by security forces against Jammeh's opponents," as well as multiple murders, torture and rape.
Sonko's responsibility, as noted in the prosecutor's report, was not limited to his direct involvement in the alleged crimes. He was also accused of "negligence in his position" as the interior minister, responsible for the police and prison service.
The defense challenged the Swiss court's jurisdiction to prosecute Ousman Sonko for facts that occurred before January 1, 2011, when the article on crimes against humanity appeared in the European country's criminal code, the NGO said. The defense also said that numerous hearings of witnesses, as well as filed material, had been collected "in violation of procedural requirements."
The former interior minister fled to Switzerland in 2016 after Jammeh lost the election. Sonko was arrested in 2017 after TRIAL International filed a complaint against him for human rights violations under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows suspects of serious crimes to be prosecuted outside the territory where the alleged crimes were committed.
In April 2023, Swiss prosecutors filed formal charges against Sonko, which he denied.