DENVER — An unprecedented trial began Monday in Denver’s federal district courthouse.

Michael Sang Correa, from The Gambia in West Africa, was indicted in 2020 and is the first non-United States citizen to be tried under Title 18, U.S. torture laws.

According to the indictment, Correa made his way to America in 2016 and eventually settled in Denver. He is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and six counts of inflicting torture on specific individuals for crimes he allegedly committed in The Gambia in 2006.

This is only the third trial under the Torture Act since it was passed in 1994, according to attorneys representing several of Correa’s alleged victims.

The indictment claims Correa was a member of an armed unit known as the Junglers that answered to the former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Junglers were composed of individuals selected from the ranks of the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) but operated outside the regular GAF chain of command. Jammeh learned that individuals within The Gambia were attempting to overthrow his government. Those individuals were subsequently arrested and “subjected to severe physical and mental abuses,” according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege Correa and other members of the Junglers severely beat their victims, suffocated them with plastic bags, and inflicted other forms of torture. In one case, he beat a victim with sticks, palm branches, and wires and extinguished a cigarette on the victim, the indictment said.

At the time of the indictment, previous U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn said, “With this arrest, we are not only holding accountable a man who has allegedly committed horrific acts of torture against his own people, but demonstrating to the People of The Gambia, and indeed the entire world, that the United States stands for the rule of law and against those who abuse human rights.”

The trial is expected to last until Friday, April 18.

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