The Gambia said it welcomes United States’ indictment of Michael Sang Correa, a member of the ‘Junglers’, a hit squad under former President Jammeh, for alleged crimes of torture committed in his homeland.
Correa was arrested Thursday and indicted before the U.S. District Court of Colorado by the US Department of Justice over allegations he tortured coup plotters against Jammeh in March 2006, according to The Denver Channel.
“The indictment of Mr Correa by U.S. authorities is an extraordinary legal milestone,” Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou said in a statement late Friday evening, adding that “there is no hiding place for those who commit such crimes in today’s world.”
Jammeh’s death squad which Correa was part of are accused of executing 50 west African migrants in 2005; former intelligence chief Daba Marenah in 2006; journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004; journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh in 2006; nine prisoners in 2012; and two Gambian-Americans, Alhagie Mamut Ceesay and Ebou Jobe in 2013, according to testimonies by former members at public hearings of Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.
“I want to see justice done for me and for all the others who were victimized by Yahya Jammeh and his security forces,” Baba Hydara, son of journalist Deyda Hydara, said Friday in a joint statement by seven rights groups working on bringing the former dictator to justice.
“For us, the most important thing is to ensure that such abuses never happen again in Gambia or anywhere else,” Hydara said.
Ya Mamie Ceesay, mother of slain businessman Alhagie Mamut Ceesay, said perpetrators of international crimes need to be held accountable wherever they may be.
“Using the U.S. torture statute to prosecute one of Jammeh’s key henchmen is an important moment for justice in [The] Gambia,” she said.
Jammeh was forced out of The Gambia by sub-regional forces after refusing to quit when he lost the 2016 presidential election to Adama Barrow and eight coalition parties.
His 22-year rule was marked by allegations of widespread human rights violations which include enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, and forced herbal treatment of HIV patients. He now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea.
Published on: Jun 13, 2020 at 10:30
