Switzerland concludes its inaugural trial for crimes against humanity this week, as the defendant, a former Gambian minister accused of rape and murder, delivers a defiant closing speech asserting victimhood to racism and falsehoods.
Ousman Sonko, the former interior minister of Gambia under deposed dictator Yahya Jammeh, stands as the highest-ranking official ever prosecuted in Europe through universal jurisdiction, enabling the prosecution of the gravest offenses worldwide.
Throughout the trial in Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, detailed accounts of rape, torture, and murder purportedly committed between 2000 and 2016, either by Sonko or under his supervision, surfaced.
“I regret that they (the plaintiffs) discredited themselves in this way by lying, with the sole aim of supporting the accusation against me, in defiance of the truth,” expressed Sonko, 55, in his closing remarks before the court late on Thursday. He decried his seven-year pre-trial detention, citing its adverse impact on his health and attributing it to a history of colonialism and racism.
“My country does not need expiatory victims immolated before foreign judges,” he asserted. The Attorney General’s office refrained from commenting on the accused’s statement.
According to a U.N.-commissioned report in 2022, while landlocked Switzerland never possessed an empire, its financial institutions and authorities profited from colonialism, and systemic racism endures in the nation.
Benoit Meystre, a legal adviser at TRIAL International, the organization that initiated the complaint against Sonko, expressed dismay at the ex-minister’s closing speech, characterizing it as disrespectful towards Gambians and self-victimizing.
The rift between Sonko and Jammeh emerged in the twilight of Jammeh’s 22-year autocratic reign before the latter’s expulsion in January 2017 following electoral defeat. Sonko’s arrest in Switzerland coincided with his asylum-seeking efforts that same month.
Switzerland’s public prosecutor seeks the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Witnesses described the trial as emotionally charged, marked by profound silences and occasional tears.
One plaintiff, Binta Jamba, testified she endured multiple rapes by Sonko subsequent to her husband’s murder. The court relocated the defendant during her testimony. Sonko asserted he was abroad during the alleged rapes.
Annina Mullis, representing several plaintiffs, expressed confidence in the compelling case constructed. “The defense still could not explain many of the contradictions between the defendant’s declarations and the facts established,” she remarked.
No verdict date has been scheduled.
(Reuters)
