The Justice minister of the Gambia Abubacarr Tambadou announced on Thursday in Banjul that the government is to set up a Truth and Reconcialition Commission in six months to look into crimes allegedly committed by the former public officials under ex-president Yahya Jammeh's government.

"A Truth and Reconciliation Commission with appropriate reparations for victims will be set up within the six months and public hearings will be expected to commence by the end of the year," Tambadou explained during a press conference, adding that "we will need to adapt the lessons learnt from other TRCs to our particular context in the Gambia".

Tambadou also informed that he will be advocating to remove the death penalty sentence from the Constitution during the legal books reforms soon.

Meanwhile, the former spy chief of ex-president Jammeh and many other senior staff of the intelligence agency who have been accused of taking part in the murder of many Gambians and other nationals, including the political activist Ebrima Solo Sandeng, are already in court to answer several criminal allegations including murder.

According to him, from now on, no criminal case will be proseucted in the Gambia until thorough and comprehensive investigation is carried out to avoid people to court on crimes they have not committed.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2017)