Gambia News : Bid to drop treason charges against Gambian top brass denied

A Gambian court on Monday rejected a bid to have charges dropped against top military and intelligence officials accused of trying to overthrow President Yaya Jammeh.

Lawyers of the eight accused had applied for a dismissal on the grounds of "lack of evidence by state prosecutors" during presentation of the prosecution case.

However Judge Emmanuel Amadi ruled that the case must go ahead saying: "The accused persons must be prosecuted because the prosecution witnesses have advanced enough information that shows that the accused persons conspired to do the act."

"It is my humble opinion that the state has proven its case and the accused persons must now open their defence," he said.

The eight accused include former army chief Langtombong Tamba, former intelligence chief Lamin Badjie and the former deputy chief of police Modou Gaye.

The suspects, most of whom were close allies of Jammeh, have been accused of bringing weapons into the west African country from Guinea in order to topple Jammeh last year, who himself came to power in a bloodless coup in 1994.

The accused were arraigned in March and the state called 16 witnesses to testify against them.

This is not the first time army officers in the small west African country have been accused of plotting against the Jammeh administration. Eleven people were jailed over a 2006 coup attempt.

A former national police chief and other top former officials are currently being held on charges of plotting against the regime of Jammeh to steal money and drugs.

Jammeh, an outspoken military officer and former wrestler, is said to rule the tiny country, nestled within Senegal, with an iron fist, repressing criticism and brushing off concerns over human rights abuses.

Amnesty International has slammed the government for illegal arrests and detentions.