A former death squad member of the ousted Gambia President Yahya Jammeh will stand trial in a United States federal court in Denver, Colorado. Michael Sang Correa, who faces charges of torture and conspiracy to commit torture, will appear before a federal judge on September 16, 2024.
Mr. Correa, also a former Gambia National Army officer, was arrested in June 2020 accused of federal crimes which includes torturing political prisoners in the Gambia. Correa has since been in custody in Colorado.
Michael was earlier indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy to commit torture and six counts of aiding and abetting torture. The statute that will be used to allow US officials to prosecute foreign nationals residing in the US for alleged crimes they committed elsewhere had only been used twice before.
Correa’s arrest and subsequent indictment followed his travel to the United States in December 2016 to work as a bodyguard for the former Gambian vice president, who was visiting the United Nations. Michael decided to stay in the US when Yahya Jammeh was voted out of office in December 2016.
Mr. Correa’s trial comes after the conviction of former Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko and Bai Lowe in Switzerland and Germany.
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