Justice minister Dawda Jallow has hinted that former president Yahya Jammeh who is in exile in Equatorial Guinea, will be tried in person before the Ecowas hybrid court.
The Gambia is partnering with Ecowas to set up a hybrid tribunal to prosecute Jammeh and other perpetrators of gross human rights violations in The Gambia between July 1994 and January 2017.
A joint technical committee comprising representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Ecowas Court, Gambia Bar Association, the judiciary, and victim-led organisations was formally inaugurated yesterday to work on legal frameworks, a funding plan, ratification and implementation plans for the setting up of an internationalised court.
Responding to concerns as to whether Jammeh will be tried in absentia since there is no extradition treaty between Banjul and Malabo, Justice Minister Jallow said: “These kinds of trials have not happened in absentia. So he [Jammeh] will be tried in person. In his presence. We do not have an extradition treaty with Equatorial Guinea but I know when we get to that bridge we will know how to cross it. This is going to be an international court and our partner [Ecowas] is a 16 to15 member states organisation and the court belongs to all of us after it is set up. So an extradition treaty with any member state will do but there may be other ways of getting him [Jammeh] to justice when we get there. At the moment we are focused more on setting up where we are going to take him, how we are going to take him there and to answer what questions?”
The committee has been given 18 weeks to complete its work.
Source: Standard Newspaper