By Yusef Taylor
Stanislas Gomez, the victim of checkpoint shooting by the State Guard battalion, has accused the Gambia Armed Forces of making false allegations against him.
He raised these concerns in a letter responding to an invitation to appear before a military inquiry set up to investigate the incident.
The shooting incident occurred in Bijilo along the Bertil Harding Highway near 2Ray’s Restaurant, close to Kerr Serign Junction. The army said it wants to get to the bottom of the incident that led to the shooting of Gomez in a car that it said failed to stop at the checkpoint.
However, in his response to the invitation, the victim accused the army of making false allegations against him in their press statement on the matter.
“The Gambia army spokesman on QTV made and repeated false and malicious allegations against us, seemingly to tarnish our image and cover up the unprofessional and life-threatening actions of your personnel, which resulted in [Stanislas Gomez] being shot”, the witnesses said in his letter of response.
Gomez and other witnesses said they would only appear before the military panel with their lawyers and the National Human Rights Commission.
They also queried the inclusion of a man in the list of witnesses invited to appear, saying they do not know him and he is not involved in the incident.
