DENVER — After a first-of-its-kind trial in Colorado federal court, a Gambian man was sentenced to more than 67 years in prison Friday on torture charges for abusing political prisoners in his home country.
Michael Sang Correa, 46, was indicted in 2020 and is the first non-United States citizen to be tried and convicted under Title 18, U.S. torture laws. This was only the third trial under the Torture Act since it was passed in 1994, as Denver7 reported earlier this year.
Correa was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit torture and six counts of inflicting torture on specific individuals for crimes he committed in The Gambia in 2006.
Evidence from the trial showed that Correa served in an armed unit called the Junglers, which reported to former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. As a member of the group, Correa conspired to torture five victims who were selected because of suspicions they had plotted against the president.
The victims spoke at the sentencing, describing the physical and psychological damage the torture caused them. Correa and his co-conspirators took the victims to the main prison in The Gambia where the victims endured stabbings, beatings, burnings and electrocutions. One victim stated that he was burned on his leg with molten plastic and suspended from the air in a bag and then dropped to the ground, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“The victims of these crimes carried the weight of unimaginable suffering for years, not knowing whether they would ever see their torturer held accountable,” U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly for the District of Colorado said in a press release. “Today’s sentence delivers a measure of justice for them and affirms that the United States stands firmly with those whose human rights have been violated. This prosecution and sentence should serve as a deterrent for criminals who think they might escape accountability by coming to Colorado.”
Correa traveled to the United States in 2016 and settled in Denver, where he was arrested in 2019 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was sentenced to 810 months, or 67.5 years.
“Mr. Correa’s crimes were barbaric and uncivilized; they have no place in the modern world,” Special Agent in Charge Steve Cagen of ICE and Homeland Security Investigations in Denver said in the release. “I hope this sentence can bring some kind of closure for his victims and their families. 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.”
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