A Gambian soldier who tortured political prisoners for brutal dictator Yahya Jammeh has been jailed for nearly seven decades in the US.

Michael Sang Correa, 46, a member of Jammeh’s blood-soaked “Junglers” death squad, was handed a massive 810-month sentence, 67 and a half years, by a federal judge in Denver, Colorado.

He was found guilty in April of a string of horrific torture crimes against suspected coup plotters back in 2006.

Survivors told jurors how Correa beat them senseless, stabbed them with knives, burned their flesh and electrocuted them inside the notorious Mile 2 Prison.

Some of his victims bravely flew to the US to stare down their tormentor in court. One told reporters afterwards: “we wanted him to hear our voices, the voices he tried to silence.”

The court heard Correa escaped to the US in 2016 and lived quietly in Denver until FBI agents swooped on him three years later.

Judge Christine Arguello said the length of the sentence reflected the “unspeakable cruelty” of the crimes.

Prosecutors had asked for the maximum 120 years, but the 810-month term still ensures Correa will likely die behind bars.

The sentencing is the first of its kind under America’s torture laws, and puts fresh pressure on authorities to go after Jammeh and other ex-regime thugs accused of killings, rapes and disappearances during his 22-year dictatorship.

By Adama Makasuba