By Patience Mama Loum
The much-awaited trial of Michael Sang Correa, a suspected member of the Jammeh-era death squad, the Junglers, which was scheduled for the next Monday 16 September, has been rescheduled until further notice. Correa is charged with torture in Denver, Colorado state of the United States of America where he resides. His alleged crimes happened in the after math of the 2006 coup plot.
According to the Centre for Justice and Accountability, a US non-profit international human rights organisation, Michael Correa filed two motions with the court, one to dismiss the case against him, and another, to ask for a delay until his defense presents testimony from two witnesses living in The Gambia.
The court rejected the first motion, and ordered that the case must be heard, but accepted the second motion, which is to delay the trial to dispositions his two witnesses in The Gambia.
The two witnesses, according to court documents, are Momodou Hydara and Alieu Jeng.
Hydara was a former deputy director of the much-maligned National Intelligence Agency (NIA) now State Intelligence Services (SIS) while Alieu Jeng served as a state guard under the Jammeh regime and later known to be part of the Jammeh special patrol team also known as the Junglers.
Jeng who testified before the TRRC on 8 August 2019, was alleged to be part of the killings of Deyda Hydara, Daba Marenah, Dawda Nyassi, and few others, although he denied most of the claims.
“Sang Correa is claiming that this testimony would support his defense that he was coerced to and under duress when he allegedly assaulted the individuals listed in the indictment. However, according to Correa’s lawyer, Hydara and Jeng will not travel to the United States to testify unless the United States government provided them with immunity from prosecution which the United States declined to offer,” the court stated.
It said Correa accordingly asked the court to delay the trial while his attorneys travel to The Gambia to take depositions from Hydara and Jeng. Depositions are a form of video recorded testimony that can be presented in exceptional circumstances where a witness cannot travel to the court.
“Mr Correa intends to present a defense that he was coerced and was under duress when he allegedly committed the offences outlined in the indictment. Mr Hydara and Mr Jeng are the only percipient witnesses that Mr Correa has identified who are willing to and can support his defense at the trial,” court documents stated.
According to court files, the video depositions of Hydara and Jeng is necessary before the trial can commence.
“They are unavailable to testify at the trial but their testimonies are material to Mr Correa’s defense and therefore necessary to avoid an injustice,” the court said.
It also revealed that both Hydara and Jeng were present during the aftermath of the 2006 failed coup attempt and as such, they would provide the jury with first-hand knowledge as to the real and specific threat of death or serious bodily injury to Mr Correa if he had refused President Jammeh’s commands.
“Both witnesses would further provide their personal knowledge as to the lack of any other lawful alternative and what President Jammeh had done to other Junglers who had dared to disobey his commands. Succinctly put, both Mr Hydara and Mr Jeng will provide testimony necessary for Mr Correa to meet his burden at trial. No other defense witnesses can provide this type of first-hand knowledge without these witnesses’ testimony, Mr Correa’s ability to mount a defense against the government’s allegations is severely limited.”
The testimony of both parties will provide the jury with evidence that members of The Gambian armed forces lived in constant fear of President Yahya Jammeh.
“Mr Hydara and Mr Jeng will provide evidence that President Jammeh’s orders were to be carried but, and in the instant, they were refused, he would either kill or inflict serious bodily injury.”
