Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – A Gambian man convicted of torturing opponents of the African country’s former president was sentenced to more than 67 years in a US prison on Friday. Michael Sang Correa, 46, served in an armed unit known as the “Junglers,” which answered to The Gambia’s then-president, Yahya Jammeh. Correa was convicted by a jury in Denver, Colorado, in April of torturing people because of suspicions they had plotted against Jammeh.
The Justice Department said the torture included burning victims with molten plastic and subjecting them to vicious beatings. “Today, Michael Correa has finally been held accountable for the brutal violence he inflicted on others,” acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti said in a statement. “The United States will not be a safe haven for individuals who seek to conceal their egregious human rights violations.”
Jurors in Colorado heard how in March 2006, shortly after a failed coup attempt, the Junglers took their victims to The Gambia’s main prison. Over the next two months, they beat, stabbed, burned, and electroshocked their victims, including some on their genitals. One man testified that he had his thigh burned by molten plastic; another told of how he was suffocated, while others spoke of being pistol whipped, burned with cigarettes, and hit in the face with a hammer. Correa was convicted of five counts of torture and one of conspiracy to commit torture.
Correa entered the United States in 2016 to work as a bodyguard for The Gambia’s vice president, who was visiting the United Nations. He stayed in the country and moved to Denver at some point after Jammeh, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1994 to 2017, was voted out of office. Correa was arrested by US authorities in September 2019, initially for overstaying his visa.
The paramilitary Junglers operated outside the Gambian army’s chain of command, taking orders directly from Jammeh, and have been accused by watchdog groups of carrying out widespread human rights violations. Another member of the Junglers, Bai Lowe, was sentenced to life in prison in Germany in November 2023 after being convicted of crimes against humanity, murder, and attempted murder. A Swiss court sentenced Gambian ex-interior minister Ousman Sonko to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed under the Jammeh regime.
Victims of the Junglers included an AFP correspondent, Deyda Hydara, who was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of Gambia’s capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.
© 2024 AFP
