By Amadou Barry
It is a day that was highly anticipated. Judged by a special court martial in Yundum, near Banjul, the first group is composed of two generals, close to Yahya Jammeh, whom they had accompanied in exile to Equatorial Guinea after its fall in January 2017. Secretly returned in January 2018, the generals Umpa Mendy and Ansoumana Tamba were arrested thereafter before being pursued for desertion of the army. According to Gambian army legislation, desertion is punishable by life sentence.
The second group of soldiers, are about 12 under-officers persecuted for attempted coup d’état to overthrow the newly elected regime of Adama Barrow in 2017. Last Friday, the Court found the 8 guilty while relaxing the 4 others. The first elements of the investigation had revealed that they had opened a whattssap group in which they exchanged on the modus operandi of the putsch. They risk a life sentence.
In both cases, more deliberation is expected to continue before the end of the day.