Addis Ababa, May 15, 2024 (Addis Walta) A Swiss Federal Criminal Court found former Gambian Interior Minister, Ousman Sonko, guilty of crimes against humanity.
The court found the former interior minister guilty of intentional homicide, torture and false imprisonment while serving between 2006 and 2016 under former Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh.
Swiss prosecutors had accused Sonko of supporting, participating in and failing to stop attacks against political opponents in the country.
The charges included nine counts of crimes against humanity.
The former minister applied asylum in Switzerland in November 2016 and was arrested two weeks later.
The Rights Group welcomed the court’s ruling against the 55-years old Sonko which is in line with universal jurisdiction which allows countries crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide regardless of where they were committed.
Under the universal jurisdiction principle, Switzerland has the right to put individuals on trial who committed series crimes against humanity.
Ousman Sonko is the second man tried in Switzerland after Alieu Kosiah, a Liberian figure who was handed a 20-year term in June 2021 for mass killings and other crimes perpetrated in the Liberian civil wars, according to Aljazera.