DENVER (Chatnewstv.com) — A Gambian man who served in a paramilitary unit under former President Yahya Jammeh has been sentenced to more than 67 years in U.S. prison after being convicted of torturing political detainees nearly two decades ago, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Michael Sang Correa, 46, was sentenced to 810 months by Senior U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello in Colorado after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit torture and five counts of torture. It marks the first conviction of a non-U.S. national under federal torture laws.
“Today, Michael Correa has finally been held accountable for the brutal violence he inflicted on others,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The United States will not be a safe haven for individuals who seek to conceal their egregious human rights violations.”
Correa belonged to the “Junglers,” an armed unit that reported directly to Jammeh. Prosecutors said that in 2006, after a failed coup attempt, Correa and others beat, burned, stabbed and electrocuted detainees at The Gambia’s Mile 2 Prison. Victims testified he melted plastic onto their skin, suspended them in bags, suffocated them with plastic, and struck them with hammers and pistols.
“The victims of these crimes carried the weight of unimaginable suffering for years,” U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly for Colorado said. “Today’s sentence delivers a measure of justice for them.”
Correa entered the United States in 2016 and lived undetected until Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in 2019. He was indicted the following year.
“Mr. Correa’s crimes were barbaric and uncivilized; they have no place in the modern world,” said Steve Cagen, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Denver. “A standard was set with this trial and sentencing: Homeland Security Investigations will hunt down and bring to justice those that commit these horrific crimes.”
The case was investigated by HSI’s Denver field office with support from agents in Senegal and The Gambia, as well as the FBI. Prosecutors credited testimony from victims for helping secure the landmark conviction.
