DENVER, Colorado — In a landmark international human rights case, a federal jury in Denver on Tuesday convicted Michael Sang Correa, a former Gambian soldier, on all counts related to the torture of political detainees suspected of participating in a failed 2006 coup against longtime Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh.
Correa, who once served in an elite military unit called the “Junglers” — known for brutal repression and reporting directly to Jammeh — faced charges including five counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture. The jury’s unanimous verdict comes nearly 20 years after the alleged crimes and represents a rare use of the U.S. extraterritorial torture statute, which permits prosecution of torture committed abroad when the accused is present in the United States.
The trial drew global attention, with survivors traveling from Gambia, Europe, and various U.S. states to testify about the harrowing abuse they endured. Witnesses described gruesome interrogation methods including electrocution, beatings while suspended upside down, suffocation with plastic bags, and burns from cigarettes and heated metal.
Jurors were shown graphic photographic evidence, including scars and injuries sustained by victims. Each survivor was asked to identify and explain the origins of their injuries by marking the photographs — a powerful moment that underscored the horror of the crimes.
“This trial is not only about justice for the individual victims, but also a reckoning with the impunity that surrounded Yahya Jammeh’s reign,” said a human rights observer present in the courtroom.
Correa, who arrived in the United States in 2016 as part of Jammeh’s personal security team, had been living in Denver and working as a day laborer after overstaying his visa following Jammeh’s ouster in 2017. He was indicted in 2020, making his case one of the few instances where a foreign national has been prosecuted in the U.S. for torture committed overseas.
His defense argued that Correa was a low-ranking private within the Junglers, operating under constant fear and the threat of death. They contended that he lacked authority or autonomy and was coerced into participating in the acts of torture.
However, U.S. prosecutors countered that several members of the Junglers had refused to participate in the torture, proving that Correa had agency and choice. His actions, they argued, were not merely passive obedience, but active participation in a system of repression.
Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 military coup and ruled Gambia for 22 years, has been accused of widespread human rights abuses — including extrajudicial killings, unlawful detention, torture, and disappearances of critics and political opponents. He fled into exile in Equatorial Guinea after losing the 2016 presidential election and initially refusing to step down.
A Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) in 2021 documented extensive atrocities during Jammeh’s rule and urged that those responsible be prosecuted, both domestically and internationally. Correa’s trial is the latest in a series of legal actions abroad targeting Jammeh-era officials.
Correa’s conviction adds to a growing number of international prosecutions connected to the Jammeh regime:
- In Switzerland, Jammeh’s former interior minister was sentenced to 20 years for crimes against humanity in 2023.
- A German court convicted another ex-Jungler for murder and crimes against humanity, linked to the targeted killings of government critics.
Legal experts have called these trials crucial steps in building international legal precedents for holding perpetrators of state-sponsored torture accountable, especially when domestic justice systems fail.
Correa now awaits sentencing, which could result in a lengthy prison term under U.S. federal law. His conviction is being celebrated by rights groups as a triumph of global justice mechanisms and a warning to perpetrators of human rights abuses that impunity has limits — even across borders.
