Former AFPRC junta member, Yankuba Touray, was yesterday granted bail at the Kanifing Magistrates Court. Touray was charged with tampering with a TRRC witness. He denied any wrongdoing.

The prosecution case was based on a TRRC witness statement made by Alagie Kanyi,  who alleged that Yankuba Touray and Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay had urged him not to testify  at the TRRC.

Police prosecutor, Almameh Manga, told the court that Touray’s actions were meant to obstruct or interfere with the work of the Commission.

Kanyi, who confessed to participating in several high profile killings including former finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay, had claimed that Yankuba Touray and Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay had told him through telephone calls not to cooperate with the TRRC.  

Touray’s lawyer, Abdoulie Sissoho, contested the charge and asked for the case to be dismissed. He told the court in the bail hearing that the defendant won’t jump bail as he had not travelled outside of The Gambia for the past five years.

Principal Magistrate Isatou Janneh Njie accepted the bail request and attached conditions for the defendant.

Touray’s bail conditions include D1 million with two Gambian sureties and a title deed within the Greater Banjul Area. He was also prevented from leaving the country and restrained from any interference with proceedings of the TRRC.

The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) was set up last year to investigate all human rights violations during the AFPRC/APRC rule.

The TRRC Act which established the Commission made witness tampering or perverting the course of justice a criminal offence with a penalty of fine or imprisonment upon conviction.