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Mr. Sonko had held a series of powerful security jobs under Yahya Jammeh, an eccentric autocrat who ruled Gambia for 22 years before fleeing into exile to Equatorial Guinea after losing an election in 2017.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sonko rose from commander of the presidential guard to police chief and then to interior minister, a post he held from 2000 to 2016. During that period, the court said, political opponents, journalists and critics of the government \u201cwere routinely tortured, executed extrajudicially, arbitrarily arrested and detained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors accused Mr. Sonko of participating in the killing of a soldier suspected of plotting a coup, Almamo Manneh, and of beating and repeatedly raping Mr. Manneh\u2019s widow, Binta Jamba. He was also accused of torturing an opposition party leader, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, who died in state custody in 2016.<\/p>\n
The Swiss court did not consider that his offenses had amounted to aggravated crimes against humanity, which could have earned him a life sentence, but it handed him the maximum possible term in prison for the lesser charge of non-aggravated crimes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The court also did not rule on the charge of rape despite the testimony of Ms. Jamba that he had violently raped and tortured her. The charges were dropped, as the court considers it an individual crime that is outside its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Annina Mullis, who represented Ms. Jamba, said the decision was part of a wider pattern of courts disregarding rape as part of systematic violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the court failed to take this chance to recognize sexual violence as a tool of repression,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Benoit Meystre, a lawyer for TRIAL International, the legal advocacy group based in Geneva that initiated the case against Mr. Sonko in 2016, described the verdict as \u201chistorical.\u201d<\/p>\n
European courts have tried a number of individuals for crimes under universal jurisdiction in recent years, but Mr. Sonko, as a former government minister, is the most senior state official to be prosecuted, Mr. Meystre said, serving notice that rank is not a guarantee of impunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Fatoumatta Sandeng, a plaintiff in the case and the daughter of the tortured opposition leader, was in court to hear the verdict. Afterward, she said in a statement: \u201cI am very happy and relieved. The judgment is an important milestone for us victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also said that \u201cit was good to hear\u201d that the court had finally recognized that Mr. Sonko had been responsible for her father\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Her lawyer, Nina Burri, expressed regret that the court had not considered the sexual violence charge as a crime against humanity but called the verdict \u201can important step in the fight against impunity\u201d that showed even the highest-ranking officials \u201ccannot hide and will be held responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philippe Currat, the lawyer for Mr. Sonko, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday after the verdict, \u201cWe will certainly have a second round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Currat said the court had failed to distinguish between Mr. Sonko\u2019s individual role in events and the part played by other actors. \u201cIt is not because he is a minister that he is responsible for everything that happened in the country,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n