Ex-member of Gambia dictator’s “Junglers” on trial in U.S. for torture

A person accused of torturing individuals suspected in a deliberate coup towards Gambia’s longtime chief was a low-ranking non-public within the West African nation’s army who risked torture and loss of life himself if he disobeyed superiors, a lawyer for the defendant informed jurors Tuesday in opening statements at his trial in Denver.

After transferring to Denver, Michael Sang Correa was indicted in 2020 underneath a not often used regulation that permits individuals to be tried within the U.S. judicial system for torture allegedly dedicated overseas. He’s charged with each torturing 5 individuals suspected of involvement within the failed 2006 coup towards Yahya Jammeh in addition to being a part of a conspiracy to torture alleged coup plotters whereas serving in a army unit generally known as the “Junglers,” which reported on to Jammeh.

Correa’s lawyer, Jared Westbroek, informed jurors that the persistent risk hanging over him exhibits he didn’t have a selection about whether or not to take part, not to mention a choice to make about whether or not to hitch a conspiracy.

“Following an order will not be the identical as making an settlement,” mentioned Westbroek, who famous that it’s exhausting for Individuals who reside in a “very blessed nation” with freedom to know Correa’s state of affairs.

However whereas federal prosecutors agreed there’s proof the Junglers lived in “fixed worry,” a trial lawyer for the U.S. Division of Justice’s human rights unit informed jurors that some Junglers refused to take part.

“The defendant is on trial at this time due to the alternatives he made,” Justice Division lawyer Marie Zisa informed jurors, urging them to seek out Correa, who was sitting together with his attorneys, responsible of all six expenses.

One of many alleged victims, a soldier, was stuffed right into a bag, suspended excessive within the air after which dropped to the bottom, Zisa mentioned. Some individuals had been tortured earlier than they had been questioned by a panel investigating the coup, whereas others had been later subjected to torture, together with beatings that might final hours, she mentioned.

“The victims haven’t forgotten his cruelty,” Zisa mentioned.

Zisa and the prosecution’s first witness, Maggie Dwyer, a senior lecturer in African Research and Worldwide Improvement on the College of Edinburgh, centered extra on Gambia’s historical past because it grew to become unbiased from Britain in 1965 and Jammeh — moderately than on the alleged actions of Correa himself.

Jammeh, a member of the army, seized energy in a coup from the nation’s first president in 1994, and survived three vital coup makes an attempt, making him suspicious of the very army he trusted to maintain him in energy, Dwyer testified.

Jammeh was a 22-year dictator of Gambia, a rustic surrounded by Senegal aside from a small Atlantic shoreline, and was accused of ordering opponents tortured, jailed and killed. He misplaced a presidential election and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after initially 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 ousted, based on prosecutors. Since someday after 2016, Correa had been residing in Denver and dealing as a day laborer, they mentioned.