SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) -Suspected gang members imprisoned under a sweeping Salvadoran state of emergency imposed since March 2022 could be held for another two years without trial under action taken by a congressional security committee on Thursday.
The changes to the Central American country’s Law Against Organized Crime aim to give prosecutors until August 2027 to build cases against those detained since then.
Lawmakers from the ruling party majority who voted to advance the measure said it was necessary to gather evidence and streamline legal proceedings against alleged gang members and prevent detainees from being released.
The proposal, introduced 10 days before a previous two-year deadline was set to expire, still requires a vote by the full legislature, which like the commission is controlled by the ruling party and very likely to pass the proposal.
“This committee will continue working to combat crime and the gangs, ensuring these terrorist groups never return to our streets,” said Caleb Navarro, a lawmaker from the ruling Nuevas Ideas party.
Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado called the measure advanced on Thursday a “very important” tool, enabling the country’s 44 organized crime judges to process roughly 600 collective cases involving the 88,750 people arrested.
In July 2023, El Salvador’s Congress approved group trials for the tens of thousands of people arrested during President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on criminal gangs, which has given the country one of the world’s highest incarceration rates.
Opposition politicians and rights groups said group trials risked depriving detainees of their right to due process and their individual presumption of innocence.
(Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Emily Green and Howard Goller)
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