Relatives of prisoners who consider themselves innocent victims of the anti-gang war of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, demonstrated this Sunday in the streets of the capital against the mass trials because they believe that “the righteous will be condemned as sinners.”
El Salvador and its mass trials
With some 90,000 detained in the country since 2022, the Prosecutor’s Office plans to complete in the coming months some 3,000 accusations against alleged gang members who would be tried in large groups.
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According to human rights organizations, this option will lead to the conviction of thousands of innocent people.
“They want to convict the innocent for crimes not committed. For crimes committed by a gang,” Samuel Ramírez, leader of the Movement of Victims of the Regime (Movir), told AFP.
Carrying out mass trials “is condemning the righteous as sinners and is disrespecting the guarantees” of due process, lawyer Félix López told AFP.
“The fair thing” is to “individualize” the cases, added López, who has had a son imprisoned for a year and assures that “he is innocent.”
Although it brought homicides to historic lows and has made Bukele very popular, the offensive against gangs is criticized by organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch because it allows mass arrests without a court order under an emergency regime in force since March 2022.
Ana Rodríguez, a 58-year-old housewife, marched to demand the release of a son and daughter-in-law who, according to her, are part of the “margin of error” in the anti-gang fight.
Shouting slogans like “We defend innocents, not criminals!” and No to mass trials, yes to due process!”, the protesters, more than a hundred, left a plaza in the north of San Salvador and ended their protest without incident in front of the central cathedral.
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