The trial of Michael Sang Correa, a former member of a notorious hit squad in The Gambia known as the Junglers, began on April 7, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. Correa is the first non-American to be prosecuted under U.S. law for acts of torture committed outside the country.
Fatoumata Sandeng, daughter of the late political activist Ebrima Solo Sandeng who died under torture in 2016, expressed hope that international trials like Correa’s will send a message that human rights violators will be held accountable, no matter where they are. Since the end of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship in 2017, victims and civil society actors like Fatoumata have campaigned for justice for atrocities committed by the regime.
Correa, 45, was allegedly involved in the 2006 torture of detainees following a failed coup attempt against Jammeh’s rule. He was one of the Junglers, a special unit of the Gambian military that reported directly to Jammeh and has been implicated in multiple crimes including torture, unlawful killings, and enforced disappearances.
After Jammeh’s fall from power and exile in 2017, Correa fled to the United States, where he was arrested in 2019 for overstaying his visa. Pressure from human rights groups led to his indictment the following year for torture-related offenses.
Victims from the 2006 crackdown described being suffocated with plastic bags, beaten, and subjected to electric shocks during interrogations at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), with Correa identified as one of the perpetrators by Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC).
The U.S. government is prosecuting Correa under the extraterritorial Torture Act, a rarely used law that allows legal action against torturers even if the crimes were committed abroad. Only two other people have been charged under this law since it was enacted in 1994.
Originally scheduled for 2024, Correa’s trial was delayed to allow the defense to gather evidence and statements from two witnesses in The Gambia—former NIA deputy director Momodou Hydara and ex-Jungler Alieu Jeng—who claim Correa acted under coercion. Both men previously testified before the TRRC and admitted to involvement in abuses.
If found guilty, Correa could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the six counts of torture, potentially totaling 140 years.
This trial marks a significant moment in the global pursuit of accountability for human rights violations and serves as a test case for universal jurisdiction in the United States.
