SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A three-month mass trial of hundreds of alleged gang members of MS-13 wrapped up Wednesday in El Salvador, with prosecutors delivering their closing arguments and asking for maximum sentences.
The proceedings against 485 members of the international criminal Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang on charges that include homicide, extortion, drugs, arms and human trafficking, have drawn criticism by human rights groups, which
say they infringe on defendants’ rights under the Latin American country's state of emergency.
The state of emergency, enacted in March 2022, suspended some constitutional rights and tens of thousands of Salvadorans have been detained since then.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the gang members are on trial for involvement in a total of 14,420 crimes — including 444 killings — committed between 2012 and 2022. The prosecution has asked for maximum sentence for each crime, which could amount to life in prison for some and $9 million in civil damages in all.
The prosecution argued that MS-13, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, used about 1,200 children in its criminal activities, exploited 638 women, and formed 32 groups, two of which operated from outside El Salvador.
During the hearings, the prosecutors played audio recordings of calls attributed to gang leaders in which they allegedly order killings and other crimes.
The trial was conducted virtually and the defendants appeared on camera from their detention center — the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a megaprison built by the government of President Nayib Bukele. The facility, where visits, recreation and education are prohibited, has also housed hundreds of migrants deported from the U.S.
It's unclear when the verdict is expected.
El Salvador has made this form of collective trials possible under a July 2023 reform of its criminal code, which allows for those detained under the state of emergency to be grouped according to their gangs or territories.
Officials say that since the state of emergency was imposed, more than 92,480 people accused of belonging to gangs or having ties to them have been imprisoned.
Bukele has said that 8,000 innocent people have been released. Human rights organizations, meanwhile, say they have registered more than 6,000 complaints of human rights violations and arbitrary detentions, and documented the deaths of at least 547 people in custody.
Despite the criticism, the state of emergency remains popular in El Salvador, where many residents have grown tired of the years of violence and praise Bukele for his approach to improving security.
This is the country's second mass trial of gang members. Last November, 45 members of the Barrio 18 gang were convicted of various crimes, including extortion and homicide. One of that gang's leaders was sentenced to 397 years in prison.
Among the MS-13 leaders on trial now are Dionisio Arístides Umanzor Osorio, know by his alias “El Sirra de Teclas,” as well as Borromeo Henríquez Solórzano, aka “Diablito de Hollywood,” Carlos Tiberio Ramírez Valladares or “Snayder,” and César Antonio López Larios, aka “Greñas.”
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