Michael Sang Correa, a Gambian national living in Colorado, was convicted Tuesday on charges of torturing five victims in The Gambia in 2006, following an attempted coup against the country’s former president. Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice
April 16 (UPI) — A Colorado jury convicted a Gambian national Tuesday on charges of torturing victims in The Gambia in 2006, following an attempted coup against the country’s former president.
Michael Sang Correa, 46, was found guilty of beating and flesh burning five victims after he suspected they had plotted against The Gambia’s former president, Yahya Jammeh. It is the first conviction of a non-U.S. citizen on torture charges in a federal district court, according to the Justice Department.
According to court documents, Correa served in an armed unit known as the “Junglers,” which answered to Jammeh. Shortly after a failed coup attempt, Correa and his co-conspirators beat, stabbed, burned and electrocuted their victims, who testified during the trial.
“The torture inflicted by Michael Sang Correa and his co-conspirators is abhorrent,” said Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado. “Today’s verdict shows you can’t get away with coming to Colorado to hide from your past crimes.”
Ten years after the torture and beatings, Correa obtained a visa to enter the United States. Correa had lived in Denver since 2016. He was arrested in 2019 and charged with torture in 2020.
“The evidence presented at trial exposed the depravity of the torture Correa committed in 2006, prior to his arrival in the United States, where he sought to escape accountability for his crimes here in Colorado,” Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said Tuesday.
Correa faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the five torture counts, plus the count of conspiracy to commit torture. He will remain in U.S. custody pending his sentencing.
“This verdict underscores the Justice Department’s determination to protect victims and prevent perpetrators of torture and other heinous human rights abuses abroad from seeking a new life here in America,” Galeotti added.
“You cannot hide here. We can and will prosecute you if you come to the United States after committing atrocities abroad. This country will not be a safe haven for human rights violators.”