A Gambian national who once served in a paramilitary unit tied to the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh has been sentenced to nearly seven decades in prison for carrying out brutal acts of torture.
Michael Sang Correa, 46, was sentenced Aug. 22 by Senior Judge Christine M. Arguello in the District of Colorado to 810 months in prison after being convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit torture and five counts of torture. Evidence presented at trial showed Correa served in an armed unit known as the Junglers, which reported directly to Jammeh. Jurors found that Correa conspired with others to torture five victims, who were targeted on suspicion of plotting against the government.
Prosecutors described horrific abuses carried out at Mile 2 Prison following a failed coup in March 2006. Victims testified to being beaten, stabbed, burned, electrocuted, and suffocated. One said molten plastic was poured on his thigh before he was suspended in a bag and dropped to the ground. Another recalled being suffocated with a plastic bag and threatened with a pistol shoved in his mouth. Others were hung upside down, struck with hammers, and burned with cigarettes.
“Today, Michael Correa has finally been held accountable for the brutal violence he inflicted on others,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti. “The United States will not be a safe haven for individuals who seek to conceal their egregious human rights violations.”
U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly for the District of Colorado said the sentence “delivers a measure of justice” to victims. “This prosecution and sentence should serve as a deterrent for criminals who think they might escape accountability by coming to Colorado,” he said.
Homeland Security Investigations Denver Special Agent in Charge Steve Cagen added: “Mr. Correa’s crimes were barbaric and uncivilized; they have no place in the modern world. 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.”
Correa entered the United States in 2016 on a visa and evaded detection until his arrest by ICE in 2019. He was charged the following year, becoming the first non-U.S. national convicted on federal torture charges.
The case was investigated by HSI Denver, with assistance from HSI agents in Senegal, the U.S. Embassy in Banjul, and the FBI Legal Attaché in Senegal. The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center also supported the prosecution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Hindman and Chief of the Cybercrime and National Security Section Laura Cramer-Babycz for the District of Colorado, along with Acting Principal Deputy Chief Christina Giffin and Trial Attorney Marie Zisa of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, prosecuted the case.
