Friends, for those of you who are following the Dumo-trial, here is an update of the "summary of events" from last summer until now, Feb -02. 
As you may recall, the frial was at a complete stand still between March 12th - Oct 3rd 2001.


June 2001 From what we have heard, three High Court judges have been appointed - Grante, Kabalata and Janneh - two of which seem to be still awaiting the renewal of their respective contract. As a consequence, no date has yet been set for the next court hearing.
October 3rd The trial was resumed. One of the accused - Mr Abdoulie Sanyang - did not appear in court and the judge decided to adjourn until November 27th . He also revealed that a resent amendment in the constitution had reduced the available modes of trial to two: by one judge or by judge and jury so he suggested that the accused should go back to discuss their choice with their respective lawyers.
November 27th All the accused persons appeared but this time the judge failed to appear and the case was adjourned again without a fixed date.
December 5th This time the prosecutor failed to appear as well as Mr Abdoulie Sanyang. The defence lawyer Mr Sillah suggested that Mr Sanyang had possibly not been properly informed.
December 12th The Director of Public Prosecution informed the court that he had decided to drop the charges against Mr Abdoulie Sanyang, who was absent. The other accused took their plea and the case was again adjourned - this time until 

December 19th The prosecutor failed to appear and the case was accordingly adjourned until Jan 9th 2002.
                                2002

January 9th The prosecutor presented two additional charges, endorsed by the Secretary of State for Justice, Mr Joseph Joof. Both concerns "Concealment of Treason" and states that the accused persons have neglected to inform any proper authority of their intended coup. Since one of the defence lawyers - Mr Sillah - was on sick leave, the case was adjourned until January 23rd..
January 23rd Due to absence of the Judge (sick leave) the case was again adjourned, this time until February 7th.
February 7th Defence lawyer Mr Sillah was still sick and the case was therefore adjourned until 5th March.

                                                _____________

I also read the President's address to the Assembly and this is what he had to say on the subject of Justice:
"The dispensation of justice to all on a timely and affordable basis remains top priority for my Government. In this regard conscious efforts will be made to continuously improve on our laws so that they reflect the aspirations of our citizenry while ensuring that they are in harmony with international standards and wider expectations. "
Being an Honorary Doctor in Civil Law, he should be more careful about the judiciary of The Gambia than what has been exposed during the 20 months of no-progress in the Dumo-case.

Please, keep on making sure that this case is never silenced and forgotten.
Annika Renberg
(Dumo's wife)

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>