After two weeks of digging, a determined team of investigators have finally discovered remains of seven bodies. The grave could contain more, according to police forensic expert Thomas Gomez. Among the mandates of the Truth Commission is to find the whereabouts of the victims who have disappeared under the leadership of Gambia’s self-style revolutionary Yahya Jammeh.
The investigators from the Truth Commission and a forensic team from Gambia Police Force have identified seven skulls from the mass graves found at the Yundum Barracks on Monday.
The eleven commissioners, investigators, staff of the Commission and the families of victims of November 11, 1994, visited Yundum Barracks on Wednesday afternoon to look at the remains.
The investigators have found what looks like seven electric wires reportedly used to tie the hands of the executed soldiers and also seven worn-out underwear in the grave.
The evidence found in the grave has confirmed the evidence before the Truth Commission.
The skulls were placed in the grave pointing at different directions, suggesting they were dumped inside.
The cloth found in the graves were seven underwear, suggesting they were half-naked at the time of the killing or burial and also seven pieces of electric wires were found inside suggesting the victims were tied while being killed.
“Seven under-wears were also recovered and this could attest to the fact that they were almost half-naked when they were being buried,” said Gomez.
Gomez said the mass grave could in fact contain more than seven and there are two more graves to excavate.
The investigators have also found a ring in the mass grave though it is not clear who may have been wearing it. The investigators have not found any bullet so far.
Meanwhile, the next stage of identification process of the victims will begin with DNA sampling.
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