{"id":41777,"date":"2019-06-28T07:29:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T05:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/41777-key-junta-member-touray-puts-gambia-truth-commission-to-the-test.html"},"modified":"2019-06-28T07:29:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T05:29:12","slug":"key-junta-member-touray-puts-gambia-truth-commission-to-the-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/41777-key-junta-member-touray-puts-gambia-truth-commission-to-the-test.html","title":{"rendered":"Key junta member Touray puts Gambia's truth commission to the test"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is the first time the powers of this Commission have been so blatantly challenged,\u201d said the Lead Counsel of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) on June 26. On that morning, Yankuba Touray, a key member of the former military junta, had refused to testify and had walked out of the Commission\u2019s public hearing. He is now under arrest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For many Gambians, this was going to be a big day. The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission had announced on its Facebook page that Yankuba Touray, a key member of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) that took power in Gambia in 1994, was about to testify. The TRRC hall became full to capacity until some people had to be asked to leave due to lack of space.\u00a0Yankuba Touray, a former Local Government minister, was implicated by several witnesses in the killing of Gambia\u2019s former Finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay as well as a dozen soldiers on November 11, 1994.<\/p>\n

Two hours went by. Touray was still not to be seen and the commissioners were yet to take their seat. Online newspapers broke the news that Touray said he was not going to testify because he claimed he had constitutional immunity.\u00a0Then, amidst confusion and apparent disappoint within the audience, Touray appeared in a long white African robe from a small waiting room where TRRC witnesses relax before giving testimony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI invoke my constitutional immunity\u201d<\/h3>\n

For a moment people thought he was ready to testify. But as the witness usher attempted to hand him over the Quran and put on the microphone so that he could take oath, Touray attempted to speak directly to the Chair of the Commission. Then he suddenly got up and walked back to the waiting room, cameras following him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He leaned by on a sofa, appearing frustrated. Meanwhile, in the main hearing hall as well as on social media, embitterment was rife. When TRRC Chairman Lamin Sise drew out a one-page white paper, he said: \u201cI have no choice but to order the immediate arrest of Yankuba Touray and to hand him over forthwith to the police station with jurisdiction over this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

TRRC Lead Counsel Essa Faal agreed that the Commission had to reckon with the offense of defying the Commission. However, he suggested to give Touray \u201ca second chance\u201d.\u00a0Sise initially thought this was not a good idea. He had already ordered his arrest and did not want to appear weak. But he conceded and Touray was brought back into the hall. He initially took oath voluntarily and had no problem answering to the first question about his identity. But when a second question about problems in the army around 1994 was put to him, Touray went back to his defense strategy.\u00a0\u201cI invoke my constitutional immunity. Anything that is against the 1997 constitution cannot stand,\u201d he said. He got up and returned to the waiting room where he would be arrested by the police and taken to Kairaba police station.<\/p>\n

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Sitting of Yankuba Touray at the the TRRC, June 26 2019
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