The National Human Rights Commission has said it is ‘deeply’ concerned by the release of four soldiers that formed part of former President Yahya Jammeh’s elite death squad, The Junglers.
The Barrow administration in August last year freed Malick Jatta, Omar A Jallow, Amadou Badjie and Pa Ousman Sanneh after they confessed to carrying out extrajudicial killings. They’d been in detention for over a year.
NHRC in its annual report 2019 said since 2017, about six soldiers alleged to be party of former President Jammeh’s notorious hit squad were arrested and detained by the Gambia Armed Forces for their alleged involvement in the murder of many Gambians and non-Gambians.
“Following the establishment of the TRRC, all the arrested and detained soldiers appeared and testified before the TRRC. Four out of the six soldiers who gave their testimonies were released without any accountability for their alleged involvement in committing heinous crimes whilst the remaining two are still under detention,” NHRC said in its report.
It added: “The NHRC is therefore deeply concerned with the release of the four soldiers and the continued detention without trial of the remaining two, having regard to the nature of the allegations against them.”
