The 8th accused in the 21 March foiled coup, Demba Dem, a former National Assembly Member for Niani, Yesterday told the High Court presided over by Justice Anin-Yeboah that he was not involved in or had any knowledge about the coup.

The former National Assembly member, in his testimony on a trial within a trial of his cautionary statement, informed the court that he was a politician and had been living in Nyokoi in the Central River Region (CRR).

At the time of giving his testimony, Mr. Dem said he was detained at Mile 2 Central Prison. He said he was arrested on 29 March 2006 at the National Assembly Chamber by three plain-cloth officers, and was not told why he was arrested.

After he was picked up by the officers, the embattled former Nam for Niani said he was taken to the Mile 2 Central Prison where his watch, wallet and shoes were taken from him before he was escorted to a cell at the Maximum Security Wing of the prison.

He said he was detained at Mile 2 for three hours and later taken to the headquarters of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), adding that he was not told why he was taken to the NIA on the same day - 29 March 2006.
The ex-Nam further adduced that at the NIA he met with Lt. Musa Jammeh, who ordered some soldiers to escort him into the NIA Conference room, but was not told also the reason for taken him into the room.

He said that at the NIA Conference room, he met a panel of 25 people including Momodou Hydara of the NIA, Foday Barry and Baba Saho, all of whom he recognised.

“I was asked by Momodou Hydara whether I knew anything about the foiled coup and I replied in the negative; I said I was in the provinces,” adduced Mr. Dem.

“I was further asked why I was in the provinces and I replied that I was attending a workshop at Jarra Soma at the Joni Farmer’s Training Centre,” he added.

He also denied speaking to any soldier at that time, when such a question was posed to him.

He said Momodou Hydara threatened to hand him over to the soldiers if he intended to hide any facts from them, but according to the accused, he was hiding nothing from the panel.

He said that after the interrogation he was later returned to Mile 2 prison.

Further testifying, Mr. Dem said that at around midnight of 29 March 2006, some soldiers - Malick Colley, Sana Manjang, Pa Malick Jatta, Ismaila Jammeh and two others - collected him in handcuff from Mile 2 to the NIA.

He said that at the NIA he was taken to a dark corner at the backyard where he was asked to kneel down and one of the soldiers poured a bucket of water on him while four others were beating him with a black pipe, sticks and knife.

The 8th accused said that during the beating he sustained injuries in his legs, while showing a wound in his left hand he said was a knife-cut when he refused to sign the statement. He also said they tore his shirt and threatened to cut his hand before he was finally returned to the Mile 2 prison on that day. 

He added that on 30 March 2006, he was taken again to the NIA office with handcuff under heavy security escort and he faced the panel again where he was further questioned about the foiled coup but still maintained his position of having no knowledge about the coup.

He said that at the NIA, he was reminded of what happened the night before by Momodou Hydara, as a warning for him to tell the panel the truth. But he still maintained his previous statement, he said.

He said further that he was taken to a room where he met detective Lamin Cham who told him to write his statement, but said he had nothing to write unless he was forced, and was therefore slapped by an officer for his utterances.

“I still maintained my stand and detective Lamin Cham decided to write the statement by himself,” he stated.

He also said there were three of them in the room at the time of the interrogation in question, adding that he did not know the independent witness called Babou Loum and he first saw him only at the court.

He said he did not know the content of the statement brought to him that day but was forced to sign it.

He said he signed only once, and the other two signatures were not his, adding that even his single signature on the statement was done involuntarily.

Mr. Dem said he had spent three months at the Mile 2 Central Prison before he was served with his charge sheet.

At this juncture defense counsel Jobarteh made an application for both the voluntary and cautionary statement to be referred to a handwriting expert for examination of the signature.

The application was granted and the court ordered that the two statements be referred to the handwriting expert of the Gambia Police Force.

Hearing continues on 30th May 2007.