The chairman of the Faraba Banta Inquiry, Emmanuel Joof, has said he was surprised by the decision of President Barrow to halt the Faraba Banta murder trial of five police officers and civilians adding that he thought the press release was fake.

“I thought it was a hoax to start with because of the way and manner in which it was drafted. It was a bit funny. Because I know even if prosecutions are being withdrawn, there is a legal process which is followed through the Ministry of Justice. So I saw it, I don’t understand it to be honest with you”, Joof told The Fatu Network.

“I was the chairman of the Faraba Banta Commission. We were given a specific mandate and we delivered on time and we responded to the mandate, the questions that we were supposed to find. That came up in the form of a comprehensive report which we handed over to His Excellency. And of course thereafter the government came up with a white paper upholding the recommendations.

“We are all in for reconciliation, I think we are all in to build a better Gambia but you cannot build a society based on impunity. We cannot build a society where the rule of law is not followed. We all have to follow the rule of law. There are processes, that’s why we have the judiciary. There are procedures that we need to follow even in the process of reconciliation. There was no legal ground for saying why those prosecutions were withdrawn”.

Earlier today the Attorney General and Justice minister, Ba Tambedou, has clarified that President Barrow has not halted the Faraba Banta murder trial but merely conveyed the request of the victims families for the case to be discontinued in the interest of reconciliation.

Ba Tambedou said the request was still being considered and described the wordings of the press release from the Office of the President as “an unfortunate choice of words”.