By Omar Bah
Following the leaking of a widely circulated letter from the Attorney General’s Chambers instructing the Gambia Armed Forces to release the junglers under their detention, The Standard yesterday reached out to the Solicitor General at the Ministry of Justice, Cherno Marenah for clarification.
According to SG Marenah, the letter is indeed authentic but nothing has been finalized as consultations are still ongoing.
He would give no further details but apparently confirmed that the letter might have been leaked.
‘What is very clear however is that nothing has been finalised on the matter,” he concluded.
The leaked letter signed by Mr Marenah himself reads:
“Following the appearance and the testimony at the TRRC of Malick Jatta, Omar Jallow and Amadou Badjie, all serving members of the Gambia National Army, during the week of 22-25 July 2019, and in view of their cooperation with the commission regarding several incidents of human rights violations and abuses under the previous administration, the Attorney General recommends that the said soldiers be immediately released from custody subject to the following conditions; that they immediately subject themselves to regular professional counseling by the psycho-social unit at the TRRC; that they give an undertaking to serve as prosecution witnesses in the event that they are called upon to do in any future trial that The Gambia may have an interest in. Upon their release from custody, it is also recommended that they be placed on administrative leave on such terms as you may deem fit pending the outcome of the TRRC process.”
The spokesman of the Gambian army Major Lamin K Sanyang told The Standard via telephone that he could not as of yesterday confirm whether the said letter has been sent to the army but promised to check.
The Standard also contacted the chairman of the Centre for Victims of Human Rights Violation, Sheriff Kijera who confirmed that Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday had a meeting with the victims with regard to his plans to release the said junglers.
He said the victims have informed the Justice Minister of their total rejection to the idea.
