{"id":41748,"date":"2019-06-24T07:51:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T05:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/41748-gambia-trrc-encounter-with-a-man-once-feared.html"},"modified":"2019-06-24T07:51:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T05:51:14","slug":"gambia-trrc-encounter-with-a-man-once-feared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/41748-gambia-trrc-encounter-with-a-man-once-feared.html","title":{"rendered":"Gambia\u2019s TRRC encounter with a man once feared"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sensation last week before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission in the Gambia was the testimony of General Alagie Martin<\/a>. A fiercely loyal officer to former dictator Yahya Jammeh, he admitted torture \u2013 he called it \u201cbeating\u201d \u2013 and apologized to his victims. But he would not consider resigning for his current influential position in the army.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The day before, lead counsel of Gambia\u2019s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) Essa Faal told the country of the coming testimony of an \u201cimportant witness\u201d. And on June 20, before an expectant audience appeared a serious looking General Alagie Martin.<\/p>\n

Like most senior men in former president Yahya Jammeh\u2019s inner circle, Martin used to be feared. He was not an individual whose orders or directives, whether legal or illegal, could be objected. He made a name for himself as a soldier loyal to Yahya Jammeh. He is credited for often saying \u201cOga [Yahya Jammeh] before God\u201d. (Oga means \u201cthe boss\u201d in Nigeria\u2019s yoruba language.)<\/p>\n

As a former top member of the influential State Guards Battalion, Martin has been one of the most adversely mentioned senior officials near Jammeh concerning torture of detainees since 1995.\u00a0Several people, including Sanna Sabally<\/a>, a former vice-chairman of the military junta who later fell out of favour with Jammeh, implicated him.\u00a0On June 18, Babou Janha, an ex-driver of Colonel Ndure Cham who was involved in a 2006 foiled coup against Jammeh, told the Commission about his torture ordeal at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on orders, he said, of Martin. He put the general among the five toughest torturers close to Jammeh.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou call it beating, we are calling it torture\u201d<\/h3>\n

According to his alleged victims, Martin\u2019s tools of torture included butt-stroking people with an AK47 rifle, kicking, electrocuting, and suffocation with plastic bags, among others.\u00a0But the general had not been much of a public face, and most people did not know him as much as they have heard about him. Now he was for anyone to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we beat Sanna [Sabally]. We beat him mercilessly,\u201d Martin admitted, stretching in his chair. But he would not admit that \u201cbeating mercilessly\u201d was the same as torture. He looked agitated. \u201cWe did not torture him,\u201d he said. \u201cYou beat people in schools: is that the same as torture?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After some minutes of push and pull on whether butt-stroking people with AK47 and suffocating them with plastic bags was torture or beating, Essa Faal gave up.\u00a0For Faal, there were lots of cases to cover and Martin had already accepted doing the acts themselves.\u00a0\u201cNow you call it beating, we are calling it torture,\u201d Faal snapped, sealing the conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The once feared general who was staring at Faal suddenly looked in the direction of the eleven commissioners.\u00a0He appeared subdued, as if it was becoming clearer who was in charge. \u201cOkay,\u201d he said. When the TRRC resumed from a 30-minute break, Martin appeared politer, admitting that they were torturing people.<\/p>\n

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Testimony of General Alagie Martin
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