Man sentenced in Colorado for political beatings, tortures in Africa 19 years ago

A man who came to Denver in 2016 was sentenced to more than 67 years in prison Friday for repeated beatings and politically motivated tortures committed a decade earlier in Gambia. 

Forty-six-year-old Michael Sang Correa was convicted in April on one count of conspiracy to commit torture and five counts of torture. The trial was held in a federal court in Denver. Correa's conviction was the third time in which a defendant has been found guilty of torture in a federal court, but the first such conviction of a non-U.S. citizen, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Correa worked in an armed unit of the Gambia military in 2006, according to federal prosecutors. The group was called the "Junglers." The group operated outside the regular chain of command and reported directly to The Gambia's then-President, Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh himself was a former colonel in that country's military and achieved the country's presidency with the help of what various sources call a "bloodless coup" in 1994. 

After a failed coup against his own government, Jammeh ramped up his efforts to silence his detractors. The six victims in Correa's case were perceived as political enemies with purported involvement in a plot against Jammeh. Four of the victims testified at the trial. The recorded testimony of a fifth was used following his death in 2021. 

The case's second victim testified he was beaten with sticks, wire coils, boots, and a hose pipe; had plastic melted onto his skin; and was placed in a sack and dropped from an undetermined height. 

The fourth victim was electrocuted on his genitals and stabbed with a knife in his shoulder.

The other testified to being pistol-whipped, struck in the mouth with a hammer, and having sand rubbed in their eyes and cigarettes extinguished on their skin.

"Although, as explained below, the defendant significantly minimized his role in the conspiracy in his own statements," prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing document, "even in his Immigration Court testimony, the defendant described his awareness that the goal was to 'forcibly obtain confessions.'"

It wasn't until Jammeh lost his presidency in a 2016 election that Correa fled for the U.S. Correa escaped apprehension until 2019, as stated by the DOJ, and upon his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that year, he was placed in removal proceedings. He was charged with torture in 2020. 

"Michael Sang Correa tried to evade responsibility for his crimes in The Gambia by coming to the United States and hiding his past," stated Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, after Correa's April conviction. "But we found him, we investigated him, and we prosecuted him. The lesson is: if you commit violent crimes—let alone torture or other human rights violations—do not come to the United States."

Correa was represented by public defenders in Denver. Prior to sentencing, they pleaded for leniency with the judge by explaining the danger to anyone who refused Jammeh's directives. Correa was a young private making $6 per month in the military at the time. "If a recruit refused to join, there would be severe repercussions," including death, wrote Correa's attorneys.

Correa faced a maximum possible sentence of 120 years. 

Two other members of the "Junglars" have been successfully prosecuted internationally. One was sentenced in Switzerland last year to 20 years in prison, and another was given a life sentence in Germany in 2023.

Jammeh is now living in exile in Equatorial Guinea. He has not been formally charged with any crimes.