Prosecutor reaffirms Swiss jurisdiction in trial of ex-Gambian minister

Sonko trial: Prosecutor reaffirms Swiss criminal jurisdiction Keystone-SDA

For the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) and the lawyers for the private plaintiffs, one thing is clear in the trial against the former Gambian interior minister Ousman Sonko: Switzerland has criminal jurisdiction in all cases.

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On the second day of the appeal trial on Tuesday, the federal prosecutor and the representatives of the private plaintiffs were given the opportunity to comment on the several hours of statements made by Sonko’s lawyer the previous day. Once again, a central point was the question of Switzerland’s jurisdiction to prosecute the crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Sonko in The Gambia between 2006 and 2016.

On Monday, as part of preliminary proceedings, the defense spoke at length, challenging Switzerland’s jurisdiction to prosecute certain charges.

Both the OAG and the representatives of the plaintiffs referred to customary international law as well as to the first-instance judgment, in which the judges had declared themselves competent. Reference was also made to a previous case in which the Federal Criminal Court had dealt with the charge of crimes against humanity, namely the trial of the Liberian Alieu Kosiah.

Behind bars in Bern

Sonko was sentenced in 2024 to 20 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity committed while interior minister under Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, who ruled Gambia with an iron fist between 1994 and 2016.

In 2016, Sonko reportedly fled to Sweden, where his asylum application was rejected. Because he still had a visa for Switzerland due to his professional activity, he travelled to the Alpine country and applied for asylum. 

The Geneva-based non-governmental organisation Trial International filed a legal complaint, and the Gambian was arrested. Several Gambian plaintiffs joined the case in Switzerland. 

Since the verdict, Sonko has remained in prison awaiting the appeal process.

Sonko’s conviction for crimes against humanity including homicide, torture and false imprisonment in May 2024 was historic since he was the highest-ranking former official ever to be tried in Europe using universal jurisdiction. This allows for the prosecution of the most serious crimes anywhere.

Translated from German by AI/jdp

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