DENVER — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a former Gambian soldier accused of torture in his home country, making him the first noncitizen to stand trial in the United States for allegedly committing torture abroad.
Michael Correa, 45, a former soldier in the Gambia military, is charged with six counts of torture and aiding and abetting torture and one count of conspiracy.
He was once a member of an armed and specialized military unit known as the Junglers, which was part of the Gambia Armed Forces but took direct orders from then-president Yahya Jammeh, according to a federal grand jury indictment.
From March to April 2006, Correa and other members in the unit arrested several individuals believed to be plotting to overthrow the Gambia government, the court document said.
Correa tortured the victims by placing guns in their mouths, striking them with sticks and extinguishing cigarettes on their bodies inside a prison, the court document said.
Correa “sought to coerce confessions from the victims in order to have them admit to having had a role in the attempt to overthrow the government or to having been politically opposed to president Jammeh,” the documents said.
Correa is the first non-U.S. citizen to stand trial in U.S. federal court on allegations of torture abroad, said Department of Justice spokesperson Nicole Navas Oxman said.
Correa's attorneys, Boston Stanton Jr. and Jared Westbroek, could not be reached for comment Monday, and federal prosecutors declined to comment.
“Michael Correa allegedly committed heinous acts of violence against victim after victim in a brutal effort to coerce confessions from suspected coup plotters,” prosecutors said when announcing the charges.
Correa traveled with Jammeh to the U.S. in 2016 to act as his bodyguard after the president was forced into exile, NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver reported.
But Correa overstayed his visa and tried to hide in Colorado, the station reported. His last known address was in Denver, the indictment said.
Twelve jurors and two alternates were to be selected with opening arguments expected to begin Tuesday.