Facts
The Gambia was under the control of Yahya Jammeh from 1994 to 2016. For more than two decades, human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killing, sexual violence and arbitrary detention were widespread. In July 2005, Jammeh’s officials allegedly detained over 50 west African migrants and summarily executed them. To commit those crimes, then-President Jammeh relied on the paramilitary armed group the Junglers, which was considered one of the most brutal enforcement arms of Jammeh’s regime.
Bai L. was a member and the driver of the paramilitary Junglers death squad from December 2003 until December 2006.
In that context, Bai L. was convicted for his involvement as a driver in three killing missions. In late December 2003, the paramilitary unit received an order to kill lawyer Ousman Sillah in Banjul. The victim survived the attack. In 2004, the death squad killed the prominent Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara, who was critical of the government. Finally, in 2006, Dawda Nyassi, a suspected opponent of the Gambian president near the Banjul airport was also murdered.
In 2013 and 2014, Bai L. gave interviews to Gambian journalists, providing details on these murders.
Procedure
On 16 March 2021, Bai L. was arrested in Hanover by the federal criminal police and the State police forces under suspicion of crimes against humanity and his apartment was searched. Subsequently, in execution of an arrest warrant, Bai L. was placed in detention. Following his arrest, TRIAL International, with the assistance of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), provided additional information to the German prosecuting authorities regarding his involvement in the alleged offences, including the above-mentioned radio interviews.
In March 2022, Bai L. was indicted for crimes against humanity based on the attempted murder of Ousman Sillah, as well as the murders of Deyda Hydara and Dawda Nyassi. This indictment was approved by the Higher Regional Court of Celle, where Bai L.’s trial opened on 25 April 2022.
During the trial, several witnesses, two eyewitnesses and three joint-plaintiffs were heard by the court: a former employee of Hydara’s media outlet, and family members of the victims. Other witnesses included ones identifying Bai L. as a member of the Junglers, German investigators, an expert on Gambian history and the German asylum judge who interviewed Bai L. A key witness was a Ghanaian national who survived the massacre of West African migrants in July 2005 and formally identified the defendant in a photo line-up organized by the German police.
In October 2022, Bai L. claimed in a statement read out by his lawyers that the details he provided about the murders in interviews with journalists were fabricated. He also argued that he was encouraged by a journalist to pose as a former Jungler to make his story more compelling. However, this journalist could not testify as he passed away in 2021.
The federal prosecutor and the joint plaintiffs made their closing statements in November 2023, and Bai L.’s defense presented its case at the end of the same month.
On 30 November 2023, the Higher Regional Court of Celle found Bai L. guilty of multiple murders and attempted murders as crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On 12 November 2024, the Federal Court of Justice rejected the defendant’s appeal against his conviction, making it final.