In the trial of Michael Sang Correa in Denver, United States, the prosecution on Thursday April 10 started to play an audio recording of his interview with federal agents soon after his arrest and detention. In the audio, Correa confessed to being part of the Junglers – a hit-squad that operated under former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh – and taking part in arrests after the March 2006 failed coup.
“I am sorry… if I can reverse the situation… I am sorry. Did I take pleasure in it? It is unfortunate. Could I stop it if I had the power? Yes, I would have. Did I witness some of my colleagues torturing people? Yes. But I never took part. Did I kill people? Never,” said the defendant, who had a stammer, to US federal agents in September 2019.
Although his defence is now saying Correa was coerced and under duress when participating in the alleged acts of torture, in the audio recording he had denied participating in torture. He explained that his role was only to arrest the suspects and take them to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). That was his only job, he emphasized.
Correa came to the United States in September 2016, to attend a United Nations General Assembly meeting as former Gambian Vice-President Isatou Njie Saidy’s bodyguard. The stamps on his passport shows that the defendant entered the United States with his diplomatic visa in both September and December 2016. Jammeh had lost the elections on December 1 and, according to Correa, friends called to inform him and advised him against returning to The Gambia.
“Yahya Jammeh lost. I was scared because I would go to jail for things I have not done. That is why I decided to stay around,” he claimed to the federal agents. In the ensuing years, the Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) found Correa responsible for at least 11 killings.
