Ex-Gambian Minister arrested in Switzerland

One of the ministers who served under the ousted former President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, has been detained in Switzerland by the Swiss authority.

The former interior minister Ousman Sonko, was accused of committing serious offences under the president Yahya Jammeh during his 22 years of rule in the country.

It would be recalled that President Jammeh was forced out of power a week ago after ECOWAS forces insisted on forcefully removing him after he refused to hand over to his successor, Adama Barrow in the 1^st December, 2016 election in Gambia.

The arrest, confirmed by Swiss prosecutors, comes as The Gambia prepared to welcome their new president Adama Barrow, who had fled to Senegal after beating Jammeh in a landmark election that sparked a political crisis.

It was learnt that Sonko had been one of Jammeh’s top allies, serving in his presidential guard before leading the interior ministry from 2006 to 2016.

Jammeh sacked him in September and Sanko fled to Sweden where his request for asylum was rejected but was detained in the Swiss capital Bern following a complaint filed by rights group TRIAL.

TRIAL, which campaigns for the Swiss judicial system to act on crimes committed abroad, described Sonko as one of Jammeh’s “strongmen” and said he must have been aware of the violations committed under the fallen authoritarian regime.

“Sonko could not have ignored the large-scale torture that political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders suffered”, said Benedict de Moerloose of TRIAL’s criminal law division said.