The trial of Ousman Sonko, a Gambian ex-interior minister accused of crimes against humanity committed under the regime of a former dictator Yahya Jammeh from 2006 until 2016, began in a federal court in Switzerland on Monday (8 January). Sonko is the highest-ranking official under Jammeh’s dictatorship, to be prosecuted for widespread rights abuses. Sonko is only the second individual tried under that rule since Switzerland enforced it in 2011. Sonko is accused of having committed the alleged crimes in his roles first within the army, then as inspector general of the police and finally as a government minister. Detained after a complaint by the Geneva-based NGO Trial International, Sonko has been in custody in Switzerland since January 2017 after applying for asylum following his sacking from the post.
