Police Officer Testifies in Case Against Anti-Audit Protesters, Says Alieu Bah Refused to Disperse

By Admin Last updated Dec 16, 2025

A police officer on Monday testified that one of the accused anti-corruption activists insisted on his right to protest and refused repeated instructions to disperse during a demonstration outside the National Audit Office in September 2023.

Modou Lamin Korta, an officer attached to the Kairaba Police Division, appeared before the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court as the second prosecution witness in the case against Alieu Bah, Omar Saibou Camara, and Kemo Fatty—members of the civil society group Gambians Against Looted Assets (GALA).

The case is being heard by Principal Magistrate Isatou Sallah-M’Bai and arises from a press conference and protest held near the National Audit Office along Bertil Harding Highway. Prosecutors have charged the three men with unlawful assembly and common nuisance, alleging that their conduct on or about September 15, 2023, was likely to cause a breach of the peace and disrupt the surrounding area.

A fourth defendant, Momodou Camara, was initially charged but later discharged after the prosecution applied to withdraw the case against him. The remaining three accused were granted bail in the sum of D50,000 each, with one Gambian surety required to deposit an identification card with the court.

In his testimony, Officer Korta said he went to the National Audit Office on September 18, 2023, between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., after learning of a planned gathering by GALA. Upon arrival, he encountered a tense scene, describing the environment as “quite chaotic,” with noise and shouting from a crowd he estimated at 20 to 30 people. He said the most senior officer on the scene, Superintendent Dawda Jallow, informed him that the instruction was to ask the group to disperse.

Officer Korta told the court that while most of the group complied and began to leave, one individual returned and stood near the gate. He identified that person as Alieu Bah.

“I later came to know him as Alieu Bah, who insisted that he had a right to protest and would not move,” Korta testified. He said he pleaded with Bah to comply, but Bah refused and continued talking over him.

According to Korta, two officers from the Police Intervention Unit, with assistance from a G4S security officer, eventually arrested Bah after he continued to defy the order to disperse. He added that after Bah’s arrest, the remaining group moved toward the gate, at which point PIU officers deployed tear gas.

Under cross-examination by defense counsel L.S. Camara, Officer Korta acknowledged that police officers had access to the National Audit Office during the gathering and that officers were posted both inside and outside the premises. He said he did not know how many of the people present were GALA members or employees of the Audit Office.