A federal jury in Denver has convicted a former Gambian soldier of torturing suspected opponents of dictator Yahya Jammeh nearly two decades ago.
Michael Sang Correa was found guilty Tuesday of torturing five men accused of supporting a failed 2006 coup in Gambia.
He also conspired with others to commit torture as part of the notorious military unit known as the “Junglers.”
The Junglers operated under Jammeh’s direct command, inflicting fear through violent crackdowns on dissent.
Correa, who later moved to the U.S. in 2016 as a bodyguard, had settled in Denver as a day laborer.
Indicted in 2020 under a seldom-used U.S. law allowing prosecution for torture abroad, Correa’s trial marked a rare legal reckoning for crimes committed outside American borders.
Survivors traveled from across the globe to testify, describing being electrocuted, beaten while hung upside down, and suffocated with plastic bags.
Jurors viewed photos of deep scars, some inflicted with bayonets, cigarettes, and rope.
The defense argued Correa, then a low-ranking private, acted under duress and faced death if he refused orders.
Prosecutors acknowledged the Junglers operated under fear but emphasized that others refused to torture.
The conviction comes amid growing international momentum for justice following Jammeh’s 2017 exile.
A Gambian truth commission in 2021 recommended prosecution of human rights violators from his regime.
Other trials have followed abroad. In 2023, a German court convicted another Jungler for crimes against humanity.
A year earlier, Switzerland sentenced Gambia’s former interior minister to 20 years in prison.
Correa’s case stands as a landmark in the global pursuit of justice, affirming that borders do not shield perpetrators from accountability.
