Michael Sang Correa: former gambiano for torture in the United States trial

Correa was first arrested in the US. In 2019 for overcoming his visa, three years after establishing himself in Denver, where, according to reports, he worked as a daily worker.

The 46 -year -old man was accused in 2020 of torture and conspiracy to commit the torture of at least six people in Gambia under a law rarely used that allows people to be judged by the Judicial System of the US torture. UU. Allegedly committed abroad.

He is the first non -American citizen to be convicted of torture positions in a Federal District Court for crimes committed abroad, according to the Department of Justice. The law has only been used twice since it was promulgated in 1994, but the two previous cases were presented against US citizens.

The Department of Justice said Correa “tried to evade the responsibility of his crimes in Gambia upon arriving in the United States and hide his past.”

“But we find it, we investigate it,” said Matthew Galeotti, head of the criminal division of the Department of Justice.

The evidence at the trial showed that Correa and his fellow Junglers tortured five people accused of conspiring a coup against Jammeh.

The victims, including the high profile members of the Internal Circle of Jammeh who fell with him, told the jury how they were tortured for being electrocuted and suffocated with plastic bags.

“Correa and their conspirators won, stabbed, burned and electrocuting the victims,” ​​said the Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that Correa “played an integral role in the infliction of this torture to the victims.”

It faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the five charges of torture and the position of conspiracy to commit torture, said the Department of Justice.

His lawyers had argued that Correa was a low -ranking soldier who only obeyed the orders of his superiors.

But while the jury agreed that there was evidence that the Junglers lived with “constant fear”, prosecutors said in the trial that some Junglers had refused to obey orders to torture the victims.

Jammeh, who confiscated power in 1994, frustrated several attempts to overthrow him before losing an election in 2016 against Adama Barrow in a surprise defeat.

His rule was characterized by accusations of human rights abuse and state repression, which he denied.

He entered exile in Equatorial Guinea after his defeat, although he is still an influential figure in Gambia.

A real commission, reconciliation and repairs (TRRC), held between 2019 and 2021, unearthed the crimes committed under Jammeh and recommended the prosecution for those involved.

Last year, former Interior Minister of Jammeh was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Swiss court for crimes against humanity.