El Salvador plans mass trials for those imprisoned in gang crackdown

Source: Associated Press

El Salvador plans mass trials for those imprisoned in gang crackdown

BY MARCOS ALEMÁN
Updated 8:59 PM EDT, July 26, 2023

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — New rules passed by El Salvador’s congress Wednesday will allow courts to try accused gang members in mass trials, in an effort to expedite tens of thousands of cases for those detained under the country’s crackdown on street gangs.

The changes to the country’s criminal code are just the latest in President Nayib Bukele’s war on the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs, which began last year when the leader declared a “state of emergency” in response to a wave of violence.

His government suspended constitutional rights and has detained 71,976 people accused of being in gangs, or 1% of the country’s population. They have been jammed into prisons, fueling waves of accusations of human rights violations. As little as 30% of those detained have clear ties to organized crime, the human rights group Cristosal estimates.

The new rules allow trials to be held for groups of defendants based on what area they lived in and what “clique” — a smaller group within a gang — controlled that territory.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-mass-trials-gang-crackdown-594aee571b11cba4b45c3719b7d1b841