Gambia’s former interior minister has been indicted in Switzerland for Jamme-era crimes. 

Ousman Sonko is accused of having supported, participated in and failed to prevent “systematic and generalised attacks” as part of a repressive campaign by security forces against Jammeh’s opponents, Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sonko was interior minister from 2006 to 2016, when he fled to Sweden and from there to Switzerland, where he applied for asylum.

He was arrested by Swiss police in January 2017 after the Geneva-based legal group Trial International filed a complaint under the principle of universal jurisdiction that allows prosecution of the most serious crimes irrespective of where they were committed.

Sonko has been held in Switzerland ever since.

The case is set to be heard by Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court at an unspecified date, reports Reuters. 

It will be the country’s second ever crimes  against humanity trial.