Tijan Bah, an independent witness and Amadou Sanyang, a police detective attached to the Serekunda Police station, gave their testimonies, last Wednesday, in the ongoing trial within a trial (voire-dire) taking place at the Banjul Magistrates court.

Both of the witnesses threw light on how the investigators obtained statements from Abdou Salam Jammeh and Nuha Jammeh, the eight and third accused persons respectively.

The duo with 7 other members of the MFDC rebel from Casamance in the southern region of Senegal are standing trial on charges of terrorism and other dubious activities in The Gambia .

In his testimony, Tijan Bah explained to the court that he is a retired civil servant and came to know Abdou Salam Jammeh and Nuha Jammeh at the time they were giving their statements at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters in Banjul. He added that the duo were not tortured, neither threatened nor forced to make their statements. “As far as I know, the accused persons were not forced to make their statement. They fully exercised their discretion by writing their statements voluntarily,” he stated.

Detective Amadou Sanyang further informed the court that he is not aware that the panel of investigators pledged to grant the eight accused person refugee status and asylum in the Gambia if he agreed to testify against his colleagues. He refuted the allegations made by Abdou that the panel threatened to surrender him to Salif Sadio’s men if he failed to cooperate.