A Gambian man has been indicted in Colorado on federal charges that he tortured planners of a failed 2006 presidential coup when he was a member of a special armed unit that reported directly to the dictator of the African nation, prosecutors said Thursday.
Michael Sang Correa, 41, was charged under a U.S. law that’s been used only twice before allowing non-citizens who are suspected of committing torture in other countries to be prosecuted, U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn of Colorado said.
Prosecutors allege Correa was a member of an armed unit that physically and mentally tortured people who were suspected of plotting a failed coup against former president Yahya Jammeh.
Correa’s unit, known as the Junglers, was made up of people who had been chosen from the Gambian armed forces, but reported directly to Jammeh and operated outside of the military’s chain of command.
Correa came to the United States to serve as a bodyguard for Jammeh in December 2016 but remained in the U.S. after Jammeh was ousted and overstayed his visa, Dunn said.
