GERMAN COURT SENTENCES GAMBIAN MAN LIFE IN PRISON AS FOUND GUILTY OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

KEYWORDS– International Criminal law, universal jurisdication, justice

A German court sentenced a Gambian man to spend life in prison as he was a part of that death squad which assassinated former dictator Yahya Jammeh’s opponents and found guilty of crimes against humanity.

Bai Lowe, the 48-year-old suspect sentenced life prison by the state court in the district of Celle, which was also the one convicting him of attempting murder. The court described the case as the world’s first sentence for human rights violations in Gambia, under international criminal law.

The case began with killings which took place nearly two decades ago when, the court found out that the man was a driver for the military unit which was deployed against opponents of Yahya Jammeh, then President of the country. The unit killed a prominent journalist in 2004, using two vehicles disguised as taxis — one of them driven by Bai Lowe.

The trial of the case began last year as the first attempt to tackle human rights violations committed in Gambia during the President Jammeh’s era on the basis of universal jurisdiction.

A human rights lawyer, Reed Brody who works for the victims of Jammeh, said that the verdict is a small step on the long road to provide absolute justice for the crimes during the regime of Yahya Jammeh and added that the Gambian government appears committed to establish a special international court and a special prosecutor’s office to bring to justice Yahya Jammeh and his worst killers.

REFERENCES

• https://apnews.com/article/germany-gambia-crimes-humanity-conviction-0e9ac517261aa1aee819b491b4435fad
• https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gambian-man-convicted-germany-role-killings-gambias-former-105272979

                                    WRITTEN BY- SNEHA MADAN, COLLEGE –LLOYD LAW COLLEGE,  FIRST SEMESTER LEGAL JOURNALISM INTERN AT LEGAL VIDHIYA.

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