Federal Judge Set To Hear Cause Against Correa Today In The USA

Photo: Micheal Sang Correa (Photo credit Facebook).

 

By Samba Jawo reporting from the USA 

In a pivotal legal showdown, a federal judge in the United States of America, USA, is scheduled to hear a high-profile case involving Michael Sang Correa, an alleged member of a former Gambia dictator, notorious dead squad today, potentially shaping the political landscape and legal precedents in the United States (USA). 

This case, which has drawn international attention, could influence ongoing discussions about political asylum, corruption, and accountability on a global scale. Correa, 41, an alleged 'Jungler' whose members have confessed to committing torture and other serious human rights abuses following a failed coup d’état in 2006, tortured suspected coup members and extracted forced confessions. 

Survivors of this torture testified at Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that Correa personally tortured them or was present while other 'Junglers' engaged in torture. Justice Christine M. Arguello is a Federal Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Judge Arguello has decided that on Monday, 7 April 2025, she will conduct jury selection in the ceremonial courtroom (2d floor). 

There will be space for the public inside the courtroom for those who want to attend. Michael Correa, 41, is an alleged member of the notorious death squad whose members have confessed to committing torture and other serious human rights abuses. Following a failed coup d’état in 2006, the 'Junglers' tortured suspected coup members and extracted forced confessions. Survivors of this torture testified at Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that Correa personally tortured them or was present while other 'Junglers' engaged in the torture. 

The proceedings will be held in Judge Arguello's courtroom on the 6th floor, (Courtroom A602), and there will be opening statements. The first Gambian government witness is expected to give testimony. In 2006, The Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency’s report on interrogations following the attempted coup also implicated Correa in torture. Former 'Junglers' told the Truth-Seeking Commission that Correa not only tortured individuals suspected of planning the coup but also participated in numerous other extrajudicial killings, including the killing of journalists Dayda Hydara and Chief Ebrima Manneh in 2012 and the murder of Gambian-Americans Alhagie Mamut Ceesay and Ebou Jobe in 2013. 

On September 17, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested Correa in Denver, Colorado, for overstaying his visa. Following news of his detention, a coalition of human rights organizations and Correa’s victims, including CJA, the African Network Against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances, the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, the Guernica Centre for International Justice, Human Rights Watch, the Solo Sandeng Foundation, and TRIAL International called on the United States to investigate the credible allegations of grave international crimes committed by Correa in Gambia. On February 18, 2020, U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin also urged the government to investigate Correa and, if warranted, to prosecute him in the United States. 

This story was reported by Samba Jawo from the USA and was edited by Ousman A. Marong.

Fabakary Tombong Jatta Says TRRC Is a Joke

PHOTO Tombong Jatta (PHOTO Credit Online)

By Ousman A. Marong    

The party leader of the opposition Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) Fabakary Tombong Jatta has described the Truth Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC) as a joke. 

Jatta told NEWS BITE that the execution of the remains of November 11^th, 1994 alleged coup plotters was nothing.  

Jatta challenged Gambian’s to remember 1981 coupled by Kukoi Samba Sanyang where almost thousands of Gambian’s were buried in a mass grave.

  “APRC is not part of the TRRC and our reasons are as follows Alhagi Barrow was part and percale of the December 30^th attack and he into America where he was caught and jailed”, he remarked.

He added that when Alhagi Barrow was returning back home from exile, he was welcomed like a king.

“Should Gambian’s take someone like Alhagi Barrow with serious?” He questioned.

He queried that how can someone like Alhagi Barrow be entrusted to serve as a board member at the TRRC?

“How can you appoint someone like Alhagi Barrow whose hands are already dirty to the TRRC?”

He made this disclosure in his Tallinding resident yesterday after embarking on a nationwide tour with the party surrogates.

Jatta questioned whether the upright men of this great nation are no more existing to serve the TRRC instead of people like Alhagi Barrow whose hands are already stocked with blood.

He said another reason why they (APRC) rejected the TRRC was that the 1997 constitution stated that there is no guarantee on any courts base on commissions to warrant an investigation into any institution or person since July 1994 up to December 1^st, 2016.

He challenged the Justice Minister to advice the government on a certain clause of the law.

He said there should be no investigation of commissions probing into the former head of state’s financial dealings, but was quick to add that they (APRC) never deny anybody or institutions to investigate the financial dealing of the former head of state.

He poised that before the Barrow administration start their investigation into the financial dealing of an ex-president, they must first change the 1997 constitution first.

He disclosed that if the president violate the constitution, the MP’s have all the rights to impeach and oust him out.

“Is it that all our MP’s wanted?”