Court Urges State to Tender List of Indemnified Officers The Independent (Banjul) June 29, 2001 Posted to the web June 29, 2001 Omar Bah Banjul, the Gambia The High Court presided over by Justice Mam-Yasin Sey, has urged state counsel Joseph Wowo to bring to court the Attorney General's certificate listing all persons who allegedly committed offences on April 10th and 11th 2000. It also urged it to include the manner of offences they were purported to have committed. This was after Ex-Attorney General Hawa Sisay Sabally, the counsel representing Fa Janko Sawo in the ongoing case for inhumane treatment he allegedly received from state security officials on April 10th 2000, submitted that the certificate of the Attorney General be tendered before the court as exhibit. According to her, section 2 (1) of the Indemnity Act as amended should be taken into consideration along with Section 6 of the Parent Act. When asked about her position on the Indemnity Act, Mrs Sabally said that if the court upholds her submission on the constitutionality of the Act, then they will proceed on the case, and if it is rejected, then she would consider going to the Supreme Court to decide on its constitutionality, which she said is going to be a judicial precedent. State Counsel Joseph Wowo, however promised to make the certificate available before the court on the next adjourned date, so as to enable the case to proceed. Meanwhile in another development, in the case of Ousman Sabally versus the state, which is similar to the case of Fa Janko Sawo, which was heard on Monday the 25th of June, state counsel Joseph Wowo submitted that there is no course of action in the nature of the case of the plaintiff, which he said, the Act makes clear. He further submitted that the Indemnity Act did not define the words unlawful assembly, riotous situation, or public disturbance and the judges are entitled to resort to judicial interpretation. Justice T.A. Kabalata who presided over the matter said that he would like to advise himself whether the matter should be referred to the Supreme Court for interpretation. The case was adjourned to Monday for ruling. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------