Gambian Commission Urges Prosecutions for Yahya Jammeh-Era Abuses

11/30/2021

A long-awaited report into allegations of abuse committed during former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule has recommended to the government to pursue criminal charges against those responsible.

The 14,000-page document was handed on Thursday by the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to President Adama Barrow, nine days before a presidential election in which the exiled Jammeh has urged his supporters to vote for an opposition coalition.

In all, 240 to 250 people died at the hands of the state or its agents, the commission said. It recommended that the “persons who bear the greatest responsibility for abuses” be prosecuted, but did not name anyone. “To forgive and forget with impunity the violations and abuses…would not only undermine reconciliation but would also constitute a massive and egregious cover-up of the crimes committed,” the TRRC said in a statement.

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