Gambia : State Guard Commander Ordered to Appear in Court Today
Mar 03,2007 00:00
by
Anna
Major Modou Serign Njie, Commander State Guards, was yesterday ordered by the Court Martial to appear before it today to answer to summons issued to him by the defense counsel, Lawyer L.K. Mboge.Lawyer L.K. Mboge, defence counsel for the 4th accused, 2nd Lt. Pharing Sanyang, informed the court that he had issued a witness summons to major Modou Serign Njie, Commander of State Guards, to testify as a defence witness.
In a related development, the Court Martial also yesterday ruled on a prima facie case against the 9th and 10th accused persons, Lance Corporal Babou Janha and Private Alhagie Nying respectively, on a submission of ‘no case to answer’ made on their behalf by their defence counsel, Lawyer Neneh Cham-Chongan.
The court ruled that the accused persons should put up a defence against the charge filed by the state against them.
Also testifying, Fatoumatta Mendy-Sanyang, wife of 2nd Lt. Pharing Sanyang, told the Court Martial that she had visited her husband at the Mile 2 prisons where he was being detained. She said during the visit, her husband gave her a plastic bag containing his military uniform, adding that when she took the uniform out of the bag she saw blood stains on it. She further stated that she afterwards handed over the plastic bag containing the uniform to the defence lawyer, L.K. Mboge.
Further testifying, Fatoumatta Mendy-Sanyang told the court that few days later, Lawyer L.K. Mboge informed her that his office was broken into and the plastic bag containing the uniform was stolen. She added that during the visit to her husband at Mile 2 prisons, she observed that her husband was losing weight and, on enquiring from him the cause of the weight loss, he told her that he had been encountered severe torture at the NIA. She said she also observed some scars on her husband’s body.
For his part, Capt. Yahya Darboe, the 2nd accused person, also testified that he remembered seeing the 4th accused, 2nd Lt. Pharing Sanyang, bleeding on his head at Mile 2 on the 22nd March 2006, and a pain plaster pasted to the left side of his neck. He said when he enquired from him as to the cause of the wounds on the head, the 4th accused told him that he was tortured by L/Cpl. Malick Jatta and other soldiers.
Hearing continues.