Reports reaching the Daily Observer revealed that three staff of the Gambian judiciary have been appointed to the UN-backed International Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague, the Netherlands.

The three Gambians are Malan Badjie, a court registrar, Baba Saidykhan and Almamy Sabally, both senior court interpreters.

The trio, who received their appointment letters at the beginning of February, had already left Banjul for the Hague.

Confirming the story in an interview with the Daily Observer, Haruna Jaiteh, the acting judicial secretary, said the appointments came after a successful rounds of trainings for court interpreters, delivered by personnel of the Special Court.

Commenting on the functions of the three Gambians appointees, Jaiteh said the three men will help facilitate the court proceedings and also assist in the interpretation of witness testimonies in the languages spoken in The Gambia.

He described the appointments as a clear indication of the quality of interpretation services in the Gambian courts.

“They were told to execute their functions effectively as expected of them with discipline, integrity and professionalism”, he said.

Although Jaiteh could not ascertain how long appointments will last, he said they would be determined by the number of cases lodged at the court and the court system at the Hague.