Member of Gambian death squad gets 67-year jail term
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 then-Gambian 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 US Department of Justice 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. “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 US in 2016 to work as a bodyguard for the Gambia’s vice president, who was visiting the UN. He stayed in the country and moved to Denver at some point after Jammeh was voted out of office.
Correa was arrested by US authorities in September 2019, initially for overstaying his visa.
The 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 contraventions.
