A report finds thousands of arbitrary arrests since the establishment of the state of emergency, on March 27, and the death of at least 18 people in detention.
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President Nayib Bukele “plunges salvador into a human rights crisis after three years of government”. This is the observation of the organization Amnesty International (AI) which, in a vitriol report, published on June 2, denounces “thousands of arbitrary arrests and violations of the rights of defense, torture and ill -treatment “And death” of at least 18 people “who were in detention, since the establishment of the state of emergency, on March 27. “Given the precarious conditions in prison, it is legitimate to fear that the number of fatal victims could increase in the coming days,” alerts the report. In a statement published on June 3, the Inter -American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) said that “at least 21 people deprived of freedom would have lost their lives, among which at least 15 were arrested under the exceptional regime “.
The Salvadoral government said they waged a merciless war against the gangs for a bloody weekend, at the end of March, during which 87 people were murdered in the streets of the country by armed groups. According to A media survey El Faro, This wave of homicides, the most Serious for thirty years in a country used to violence, would have been caused by the rupture of a secret pact between the government and the leaders of the two main gangs, Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha 13, intended to lower the crime rate.
The state of emergency has led to the suspension of individual freedoms and the extension of police custody from sixty-two to fifteen days. As of June 5, the authorities announced that they had arrested 37,000 “terrorists”. According to local media, 1.7 % of the major population is now in prisons that were already overcrowded before these events. Between March 27 and May 17, according to the Salvadoral Institute for the Integral Development of Childhood and Adolescence, at least 1,190 minors would have found themselves in detention, accused for most crimes of “illicit association “and” terrorist organization “.
” without discernment “
In the wake of the state of emergency, the Salvadoral Congress, dominated by the party of President Bukele, modified the penal code, multiplying by five the penalties provided for belonging to a gang, and authorizing the conviction at 10 years in prison for children from the age of 12. He also voted for a law which punishes 15 years in prison any sharing of information on gangs, including by the press.
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