El Salvador gives 40 years in prison to a soldier for rape

An Army sergeant was sentenced this Friday (10/04/2024) to 40 years in prison for having raped a girl on a tourist beach in El Salvador in 2023, the Prosecutor’s Office reported.

The “Prosecutor’s Office managed to do justice in favor of a minor (of age) who was abused by the sergeant of the Armed Forces, Héctor Ovidio Alvarado, who received a sentence of 40 years in prison,” the entity said in a statement.

The events occurred on September 23, 2023 when six soldiers surprised the girl and other teenagers in Mizata – a beach frequently visited by foreign tourists on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the department of La Libertad – where she was attacked by the soldier, according to the accusing body.

Alvarado was accused of sexual assault and rape of a minor and deprivation of liberty. “There was sufficient documentary, expert and testimonial evidence with which it was possible to break with the principle of innocence,” said the Prosecutor’s Office.

The other five soldiers involved in the case – and who remain detained, accused as “accomplices” – will face a trial in November 2024, after the dismissal ordered by a court last June was revoked.