DENVER — Opening statements are anticipated Tuesday within the trial of a person accused of torturing political warring parties of Gambia’s former army dictator Yahya Jammeh just about two decades in the past, the most recent global trial tied to his regime.
Federal prosecutors invoked a infrequently used legislation that permits other people to be attempted within the U.S. judicial device for torture allegedly dedicated in a foreign country.
Michael Sang Correa, a citizen of Gambia, was once indicted in 2020 whilst dwelling in the US. He’s charged with being a part of a conspiracy to mentally and bodily torture other people suspected of involvement in a failed 2006 coup in Gambia.
Prosecutors say Correa was once a part of an army unit referred to as the “Junglers” that reported without delay to Jammeh. They are saying he and his alleged co-conspirators allegedly kicked and beat detainees the use of pipes and wires, infrequently masking the sufferers’ heads with plastic luggage, and in addition administering electrical shocks to their our bodies, together with their genitals.
His legal professionals plan to argue that Correa was once coerced to take part and acted beneath duress, in step with courtroom filings. Prosecutors and the protection have agreed that there’s data indicating that contributors of the Junglers who didn’t perform Jammeh’s orders with out query can be killed.
Jammeh was once a 22-year dictator of Gambia, a rustic surrounded by way of Senegal excluding for a small Atlantic beach, and was once accused of ordering warring parties tortured, jailed and killed. He misplaced a presidential election and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after to start with refusing to step down.
Correa got here to the U.S. to function a bodyguard for Jammeh in December 2016, however he remained and overstayed his visa after Jammeh was once ousted, in step with prosecutors. Since someday after 2016, Correa have been dwelling in Denver and dealing as an afternoon laborer, they stated.
In keeping with Human Rights Watch, Correa is the 3rd particular person to be attempted beneath a U.S. legislation that permits other people to be charged with committing torture in a foreign country. The 2 others who’ve been up to now attempted have been each U.S. voters and sentenced to long jail sentences.
Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr., the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, was once convicted in 2008 in reference to torture dedicated in Liberia from 1997 to 2003.
In 2023, Ross Roggio of Pennsylvania was once convicted of torturing an worker in Iraq whilst accused of working an unlawful production plant in Kurdistan.
Different nations have additionally prosecuted the ones tied to Jammeh’s regime.
Remaining 12 months, Jammeh’s former internal minister was once sentenced to two decades at the back of bars by way of a Swiss courtroom for crimes in opposition to humanity. In 2023, a German courtroom convicted a Gambian guy who was once additionally a member of the Junglers of homicide and crimes in opposition to humanity for involvement within the killing of presidency critics in Gambia.
