Veteran politician Omar Jallow, the 13th Commission witness, has testified how he was tortured by then sergeant Bubacarr Bah and Almamo Manneh.OJ said Bah was the one who broke his eyes.
Captain Bubacarr Bah, the soldier who has been named by Omar Jallow as his torturer at the Fajara Barracks, has apologized for his actions before the Truth Commission on Tuesday.
Bah, a sergeant at the time of the coup led by former dictator Yahya Jammeh, is the 15th witness before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission.
“I hit him (OJ) on the stomach and he bend down… I hit him on almost all part of the body and he fell and I kick him on the head and other parts of the body,” said Bah.
“I do not know what was going in my mind to do this sort of things…”
Bah said he was influenced by Almamo Manneh, a friend of his at the time, to torture the veteran politician. He was young and claimed he barely knew what he was doing.
“Almamo Manneh, a friend of mine, told me they want to bring mercenaries in the country… Almamo Manneh told me that OJ is conniving with the Western Governments to destroy the revolution and kill all of us… I believed in him. That was what led me to join in torturing Uncle OJ. He told me he (OJ) is the main problem,” Bah added.
Bah apologized to OJ, his family and Gambians for what he did.
He expressed his intention to cooperate with the Commission under its amnesty agreement to help them in their mandate of unearthing the truth about rights violations under the former ruler.
Bah is a weapon and explosive specialist.