Prosecutors in Germany accuse the man of crimes against humanity and murder in Gambia. Among the victims of the so-called "Junglers" death squad was a prominent journalist and AFP correspondent.
The case began under tight security at the higher regional court in Celle, GermanyImage: picture alliance/dpa
The 46-year-old defendant is accused of being involved in two murders and an attempted murder while working as a driver for a notorious assassination squad known as the Junglers.
The alleged crimes took place between December 2003 and December 2006.
German federal prosecutors claim the unit was used by Jammeh "to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things." They say this was done with the aim of "intimidating the Gambian population and suppressing the opposition."
The 58-year-old correspondent for the news agency AFP was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of the Gambian capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.
Baba Hydara, the son the the murdered journalist Deyda Hydara, outside the court on MondayImage: picture alliance/dpa
According to prosecutors, the defendant helped stop Hydara's car and drove at least one of the killers in his own vehicle.
The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is also pressing for two other alleged direct participants in Hydara's death to face justice. Another of the four alleged to have been involved has since died.
What is special about the trial?
The case is the first in the world to see human rights violations committed in Gambia during the Jammeh era prosecuted on the basis of "universal jurisdiction."
Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a country can prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, regardless of where they took place.
In the first 10 months of 2018, 73 journalists and media workers have died — and not just in war zones. Threats to investigative reporters are increasing, with a number being arrested and jailed over the last year.
Image: Getty Images/C. McGrath
Viktoria Marinova, Bulgaria
The 30-year-old TV presenter had recently hosted investigative journalists working on alleged corruption involving European Union funds. She was brutally murdered in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse in October 2018.
Image: BGNES
Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia
The 60-year-old author, <i>Washington Post</i> columnist and former editor-in-chief of Al Arab News Channel was last seen walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to get papers to verify his divorce. His fiancee waited outside for 11 hours, and she says he never came out. Khashoggi had previously said he believed the Saudi leadership wanted to kill him.
Image: Reuters/Middle East Monitor
Samim Faramarz, Ramiz Ahmadi, Afghanistan
TV news reporter Samim Faramarz was killed in September 2018 with his cameraman Ramiz Ahmadi when they were reporting from the scene of an explosion in the west of Kabul. The car bomb went off just meters from where they were just finishing a live report. Afghanistan remains the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Marai
Mario Gomez, Mexico
After Afghanistan and Syria, Mexico is the most dangerous nation for journalists. There were 14 journalists killed in 2017, and at least 10 more lost their lives in 2018. Mario Gomez, a 35-year-old correspondent, was shot dead by armed men as he left his home in Chiapas in September 2018. He had reportedly received death threats after investigating corruption among state officials.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/Y. Cortez
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Myanmar
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had reported the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim villagers. They were arrested in December 2017 after being invited to meet police for dinner in Yangon. In September 2018, after 39 court appearances and 265 days in detention, they were jailed for seven years for breaching the 1923 Official Secrets Act.
Image: Reuters/A. Wang
Marlon de Carvalho Araujo, Brazil
A major issue in Brazil's election campaign was corruption. Radio journalist Marlon de Carvalho Araujo focused on reporting graft, and he wrote on corruption involving officials at various levels of the Bahia regional administration. In August 2018, four gunmen burst into his home in the early hours and shot him dead.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Sa
Shujaat Bukhari, Kashmir
Kashmir journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead outside his newspaper office in Srinagar in June 2018. A contributor to DW, he advocated a peaceful resolution to the conflict between India and Pakistan over the mountainous region.
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The Capital, Maryland, USA
Editor Wendi Winters, her assistant Robert Hiaasen, writer Gerald Fischman, reporter John McNamara and sales assistant Rebecca Smith died when a gunman shot through the glass door into their office in June 2018. The man, who had filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper, was arrested at the scene and charged with their murders.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Ngan
Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, Slovakia
An ex-police officer was named as the killer of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova in February 2018. The murders sparked mass protests and led to the resignation of the prime minister. Kuciak had been investigating ties between government officials and the Italian mafia.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Voijnovic
Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta
Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who linked Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to the Panama Papers scandal, was killed when a bomb destroyed her car in October 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/L.Klimkeit
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While the case is the first of its kind to reach the trial stage, the 46-year-old is not the only person to be charged of crimes against humanity during Jammeh's rule in Gambia under universal jurisdiction.
Another alleged death squad member, Michael Correa, was charged in the United States in June 2020 with torturing people who were detained after a failed coup attempt against Jammeh in 2006. However, his trial has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Who was Deyda Hydara?
Hydara co-founded and was an editor of the independent daily The Point. He was also a correspondent for the AFP news agency for more than 30 years.
He worked Gambia as a correspondent for RSF and had a widely read column, "Good morning, Mr. President," where he expressed his views on Gambian politics.
According to RSF, Hydara was under surveillance by Gambian intelligence services just before his death.
Hydara's son Baba Hydara said his father was was a tenacious and "really stubborn" journalist.
