They denounce El Salvador in the IACHR for arbitrary arrests in an emergency regime

Abraham Ábrego, director of Strategic Litigation for the Cristosal organization, reported at a press conference that they filed the complaint on March 7 on behalf of the relatives of the detainees, who defend their innocence and deny that they have ties to the gangs. He claimed that it is about 66″arbitrary arrests” and that “they are a sample of the cases that have occurred in the communities”, given that “there are more cases”.

“Several rights of the American Convention have been violated for the detainees,” said the lawyer, explaining that one of them is personal liberty, given that “there is an arbitrary practice of arrests no prior investigation and without foundation”. He regretted that within the framework of this exceptional regime “there has been no opportunity for the judges to be independent to assess giving them alternative measures” to detention. Another guarantee that, according to Cristosal and the relatives of the detainees , has been violated is the due process.

Under the exception regime of Nayib Bukele, which is close to a year in force and has been extended for 30-day terms, constitutional guarantees such as the right to defense of detainees are suspended and detention terms are extended .

There are more than 65,000 arrests that the Government of President Nayib Bukele has reported and of which more than 3,300 people have been released, although humanitarian organizations indicate that they have been left on conditional release.

Relatives deny the relationship of their detained relatives with the gangs

With photos of their relatives and with the slogan “they were taken alive, alive we love them!, some 50 people requested, during the press conference, the release of the detainees who are not related to the gangs.

Osvaldo Ortiz, who affirms that his partner is a teacher and was detained by the authorities, indicated that as the Committee of Relatives of Victims of the Bajo Lempa Regime “we are not against fighting crime, but we are asking that it be done under legal processes established”. Mirna Reyes, whose husband and son have been detained for several months, said that they went to the IACHR because “we have exhausted the resources” in the Central American country and “it has not been possible” for the authorities to listen to them.

According to a follow-up by the Anti-Corruption Legal Advice Center (ALAC), there are more than 3,500 habeas corpus, with requests for release, which the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) has not resolved within the framework of the exception regime.

“Our relatives, husband and children have no ties to gangs,” which is why “we walk with full solvency, with full freedom,” Reyes said. She lamented that her husband at some point “almost lost his life” at the hands of the gangs and that now he is a “victim of the Government.” Estela Martínez, 78 years old and whose son is still detained and who, like the rest of the family, has not seen him, maintained that if the appeal before the IACHR does not have a response, “we will continue,” because “I will not give up.”