Video – Victims Seek Criminal Accountability for Yahya Jammeh as TRRC Wraps up

Human Rights Watch has today released a video, “Truth and Justice in the Gambia,” asking for criminal accountability for Yahya Jammeh for the numerous grave crimes he committed during his 22 years in office.

On May 27th, 2021, the Gambia Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) will conclude over two years of publicly televised sessions. The newly released video compiles critical testimonies at various hearings. Witnesses link Gambia’s former President Yahya Jammeh to numerous killings, abductions, rape, and many other gross human rights violations.

Victims and former government officials who testified at the hearings, which began in January 2019, tied Jammeh to the killing and torture of political opponents, the murder of about 59 West African migrants, and “witch hunts” in which hundreds of people were arbitrarily detained, among other crimes. They also alleged that Jammeh raped and sexually assaulted women brought to him and personally ran a sham treatment program that forced HIV-positive Gambians to give up their medicine and put themselves under Jammeh’s personal care. Watch the video.