The Independent (Banjul)
PK Jarju
21 February 2003
Banjul — The Spanish government has said it will bow to incessant pressure from the black community in Spain and other human-interest organisations across Europe to allow the trial of several police officers directly blamed for the death of a Gambian more than a year ago.
After several months of diplomatic wheeling from The Gambia and a string of actions by African immigrants in Europe aimed at forcing the cause of justice Spain has consented to the demand of prosecuting police officers of the Larida Police Station who were accused of attacking with batons and boots 39 year old Essa Marong beaten to death in a cold and wintry day in December 2001. The late Essa, a native of Badibou Jajarin was allegedly gagged and beaten despite eyewitness accounts that he was not resisting arrest. The Spanish Police are yet to come up with a comprehensive statement over how he died.
The Gambian community and other black immigrants in Spain and Sweden had vented their anger over the lack of action by the Spanish authorities to bring Essa's alleged murderers to justice and had put pressure on the Spanish government to take action. One Sulayman Sanneh a Gambian residing in Spain for over 20 years acquired the services of a lawyer who has forced the Spanish government to act against the incriminated officers.
According to Bully Marong, Essa's brother, after a tough legal battle to determine whether the Spanish authorities should act on Essa's murder, the case is being entertained by the Spanish courts where the state has been called.
Although the Spanish government has promised to take action, up to the time of going to press, correspondents say arrest of the five officers are yet to be effected while their names are yet to be disclosed to the courts.
Meanwhile Bully Marong who is still demanding the real cause of his brother's death stated that although he has not received full details of the case, the Gambian community in Spain and across Europe is with an air of triumph that at last justice was beginning to be pursued by the Spanish government hitherto reluctant to pursue the case.
Essa Marong who was residing in the Spanish town of Larida since he left The Gambia in 1999 as part of the steady tide of African economic migrants to Europe in search of greener pastures died in December 2001 after been manhandled by Spanish police officers who were having him detained in their cells for a crime that still remains far from clear.
While in their custody, Marong a father of four was reported to have been gagged and beaten with police batons and died from injuries resulting from what his compatriots called naked police brutality spurred by the "racist mindset" of the police.
His death sparked a storm of violent anti-racist protests from Gambians, other West Africans and black organisations in both Spain and Sweden.
The Network Africa Sweden (NAS) an African organisation based in Sweden petitioned the Spanish government, demanding that the officers allegedly behind the "Marong murder" be brought to justice if the Spanish state is not to be held directly responsible for the killing, which left Spain and its growing number of African immigrants deeply divided.
Five months after his death, the Gambia government had sent a mildly worded letter to the authorities in Spain, requesting an inquiry into his death, after reports that members of the Spanish police were incriminated.
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