German court sentences Gambian ‘dying squad member’ to life in prison for crimes committed in his nation.
A German regional court sentenced on Thursday, November 30, a former member of a Gambian dying squad to life in prison for crimes committed in his nation.
The court discovered former soldier Bai Lowe, 47, responsible of crimes in opposition to humanity, homicide and tried homicide for his position as a driver for the so-called “Junglers” army unit.
“The long arm of the law has reached Bai Lowe in Germany… and we hope it will soon reach Jammeh himself,” stated Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with victims of the regime of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.
According to prosecutors, the Junglers unit was “used by the then president of The Gambia to execute orders for illegal killing, among other things” with the goal of “intimidating the Gambian population and repressing the opposition”.
Lowe was accused of involvement in crimes that occurred between December 2003 and December 2006.
Among the crimes linked to him is the homicide, in 2004, of journalist Deyda Hydara, a 58-year-old correspondent for the AFP information company, who was shot in her automobile on the outskirts of the Gambian capital, Banju.
Lowe was arrested in the north-central German metropolis of Hannover in March 2021, greater than a decade after he got here to Germany as a refugee, in accordance to German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
He arrived in Europe through Senegal in December 2012, saying he was searching for asylum as a political refugee and feared for his life beneath Jammeh’s authorities.
He was detained on the fees in Germany in March 2021.
Evidence in opposition to Lowe features a 2013 phone interview he gave to a US-based Gambian radio station in which he described his position in the assaults, in accordance to police.
In a press release learn to the court, nonetheless, Lowe stated he merely repeated what different individuals instructed him in regards to the details of the case to illustrate the cruelty of Jammeh’s authorities.
Jammeh dominated Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years however fled the nation in January 2017 after dropping a presidential election to the comparatively unknown Adama Barrow.
He refused to acknowledge the outcomes, however was pressured to depart the nation due to a preferred rebellion and fled to Equatorial Guinea.
“The long arm of the law has reached Bai Lowe in Germany … and we hope it will soon reach Jammeh himself,” stated Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh’s victims.
Lowe is certainly one of three alleged accomplices of Jammeh detained overseas, alongside former Interior Minister Ousman Sonko, beneath investigation in Switzerland since 2017, and one other alleged former Jungler, Michael Sang Correa, indicted in June 2020 in the United States United.
The Gambian authorities itself stated earlier this 12 months that it was working with the ECOWAS regional bloc to create a court to strive crimes committed beneath Jammeh.
Source: www.lindaikejisblog.com