By: Nyima Sillah
US human rights lawyer Reed Brody, known as ‘dictator-hunter’, has suggested that the former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh should be tried outside the country for security reason.
Speaking at a news conference held in Kololi last week, Brody said: “If former self-exiled president Yahya Jammeh is to face trial in The Gambia, it may cause instability because his supporters are still in denial of the atrocities committed by him.”
“It will be better for Yahya Jammeh to face trial if Equatorial Guinea is willing to surrender him for trial in other countries,” he added.
The lawyer working with the victims of ex-president Jammeh in The Gambia is leading a campaign to take Jammeh to justice.
“I am a real dictator hunter and my aim is to show my support to the victims whose family members were brutally tortured, killed, raped arrested unlawfully and disappeared,” he said.
He said: “I am hopeful that the TRRC would recommend reparation for victims and also recommend institutional reforms for those who were responsible for crimes during Jammeh’s regime to be brought to justice.”
However, when asked what if the recommendations of the TRRC failed to be implemented? Brody said civil societies, activist, TANGO, victims will not ignore the recommendations of the TRRC.
He went on saying that the TRRC is at their final stage of preparing their recommendations and government should not wait for six months to issue white paper. Adding that, victims want to see the recommendations implemented by the government of The Gambia.
The Dictator Hunter said that the TRRC has not provided evidence linking Yahya Jammeh directly to the murder of Deyda Hydara and the Massacre of 59 West African migrants in 2005.
“I don’t think it will be a good idea to bring Yahya Jammeh back in The Gambia for trial. Everybody I have spoken to in The Gambia including victims, diplomats, experts and on the streets, all share the same sentiment that bringing him back to The Gambia for trial could cause instability,” he disclosed..