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

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

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

Correa’s lawyer, Jared Westbroek, advised jurors that the persistent risk hanging over him reveals he didn’t have a alternative about whether or not to take part, not to mention a call to make about whether or not to affix a conspiracy.

“Following an order just isn’t the identical as making an settlement,” stated Westbroek, who famous that it’s exhausting for People who stay in a “very blessed nation” with freedom to grasp Correa’s scenario.

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 advised jurors that some Junglers refused to take part.

“The defendant is on trial in the present day due to the alternatives he made,” Justice Division lawyer Marie Zisa advised jurors, urging them to search out Correa, who was sitting together with his attorneys, responsible of all six fees.

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 stated. Some folks have been tortured earlier than they have been questioned by a panel investigating the coup, whereas others have been later subjected to torture, together with beatings that would final hours, she stated.

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

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

Jammeh, a member of the navy, 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 navy 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, in accordance with prosecutors. Since someday after 2016, Correa had been dwelling in Denver and dealing as a day laborer, they stated.