Gambia: opening in Germany of the trial of a "jungler" linked to the murder of Deyda Hydara
The head covered with a black hood, Bai Lowe, the suspect and ex-“jungler”, hides his face from the hearing.
April 25, 2022. AFP - RONNY HARTMANN
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The trial of one of the alleged murderers of Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara began on Monday 25 April in Celle, Germany.
Bai Lowe is a former "jungler", this military body created in the early 2000s and intended to protect President Yahya Jammeh and to serve him.
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The 46-year-old suspect, Bai Lowe, arrived at the hearing with his face hidden by a green briefcase, his head covered with a black hood.
Arrested in Hanover in March 2021, he must answer before the court of Celle (Lower Saxony) for crimes against humanity, murders and attempted murders between 2003 and 2006. “
It is something that we waited for almost 18 years.
We never thought it was going to happen,
welcomes Baba Hydara, son of journalist Deyda Hydara, joined by RFI
.
This trial will bring us part of this justice that we have so longed for, only part (...) But it is the beginning of a whole process because Bai Lowe is someone who obeyed orders.
»
The main sponsor is President Jammeh
Baba Haydara
Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara, an AFP correspondent, was shot dead on December 16, 2004. Bai Lowe allegedly drove the journalist's killers away, according to the indictment.
The accused was on those dates the driver of a unit of the armed forces responsible for assassinating critics of the regime of Yahya Jammeh, a dictator who remained in power in Banjul for 22 years.
This unit was used, “
among other things, to carry out unlawful assassination orders.
The objective was to intimidate the Gambian population and to suppress the opposition
”, describes the German federal prosecutor's office.
“
Good Morning Mr President
”
Co-founder of the private newspaper
The Point
, Deyda Hydara was also the Gambia correspondent for the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Aged 58 and father of four children, he was considered the dean of journalists in this small English-speaking West African country.
According to investigations carried out by RSF, Deyda Hydara had been spied on by the Gambian intelligence services just before his death.
In his newspaper
The Point
, he notably had a widely read column, "Good morning Mr President" in which he spoke about Gambian politics.
Today first sitting in trial of former hit squad member Bai Lowe in Celle, Germany.
Allegedly involved in numerous state sanctioned murders during the jammeh dictatorship, Bai is charged for crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile other accomplishments emboldened in Gambia with top jobs.
pic.twitter.com/ofPmhRmgmy
— Muhammed Sandeng (@MuhammedSanden1) April 25, 2022
The accused is also suspected of having been an accomplice in the assassination attempt, in December 2003, of a well-known lawyer in Banjul, Ousman Sillah, a critic of President Jammeh.
This trial will "
know why, who and how they tried to kill my father
," said Amie Sillah, his daughter, at a press conference.
Two other detainees in Europe
The German prosecution still suspects Bai Lowe of being involved in the death near Banjul airport in 2006 of Dawda Nyassi, considered an opponent of the former Gambian president.
In addition to Bai Lowe, two other alleged actors in the abuses attributed to the former Gambian regime are currently detained abroad.
Ousman Sonko, former Minister of the Interior, has been under investigation in Switzerland since 2017 for "crimes against humanity" and an ex-"bush driver", Michael Sang Correa, was charged in 2020 in the States -United.
His trial could begin in early 2023.
The Celle trial, scheduled to last several months, should be
"a signal for other criminals to be tried, including in The Gambia
," said Patrick Kroker, Baba Hydara's lawyer, on Monday.
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Gambia
Justice
Yahya Jammeh
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