‘Murder Squad’ gang members used military-style methods to murder bystanders ‘for pleasure

 LOS ANGELES: The US trial for the alleged torture of a Gambian man who was a member of the infamous “Junglers” murder squad has been abruptly rescheduled. A federal court in Denver, Colorado, was set to hold the trial of 45-year-old Michael Sang Correa, a former captain in the Gambian military, on Monday. 

However, the trial was postponed by the presiding court on Wednesday in order to give Correa’s lawyers time to fly to The Gambia and record two witnesses’ videotaped depositions. There is no new trial date in the works. It is anticipated to take place the following year.

Six charges of torturing people and one count of conspiring to torture were brought against Correa in June 2020. The maximum sentence for each count is 20 years in jail. Under the legal doctrine of universal jurisdiction, which permits the prosecution of crimes including torture, genocide, and war crimes, he is under trial in the United States for offenses committed in his native nation.

Suspension on overstaying on visa

Trial International and Human Rights Watch claim that Correa’s torture trial is only the third of its type to take place in the US and the first to involve a non-citizen of the country.

In 2016, Correa came to the US to serve as the vice president of Gambia’s bodyguard when he was at the UN. After Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh, who ruled the nation with an iron grip from 1994 to 2017, was voted out of office, he remained in the nation and eventually relocated to Denver.

In September 2019, US authorities detained Correa, initially on suspicion of overstaying his visa. As per the indictment, Correa became a member of the Junglers in 2004. Taking orders directly from Jammeh, the paramilitary unit operated outside the Gambian army’s chain of command. Human rights watchdog groups have accused the force of committing several violations of human rights.

Suffering severe beating and electric shock

According to the indictment, Jammeh’s authorities discovered a plot to topple him in 2006 and detained many people they believed to be coup plotters. Correa and others allegedly tortured the captives to force confessions when they were brought to Mile 2 Prison and the National Intelligence Agency headquarters. While some of the detainees suffered severe beatings and electric shocks, others had molten plastic or acid dripped over their body.

In November, Bai Lowe, another member of the Junglers, was found guilty of crimes against humanity, attempted murder, and murder and was given a life term in jail in Germany. Ousman Sonko, the former interior minister of Gambia, was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Swiss court in May for crimes against humanity committed during the Jammeh government.

One of the victims of the Junglers was Deyda Hydara, an AFP correspondent, who was shot and killed on December 16, 2004, in his car on the outskirts of Banjul, the capital of the Gambia.