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SAN SALVADOR — Prosecutors in El Salvador opened a massive consolidated trial against nearly 500 alleged members of the MS-13 gang accused of tens of thousands of crimes including homicide, extortion and arms trafficking.
The joint trial, which opened Monday in San Salvador, is the latest in a practice that has been criticized by human rights groups as an infringement of the rights of the accused to defend themselves. Such trials form part of President Nayib Bukele’s iron fist approach against criminal groups in El Salvador, which has been under a state of emergency for four years to fight organized crime.
The 486 defendants are accused of being members of MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, and accused of ordering more than 47,000 crimes from 2012 to 2022, according to the Salvadoran government. The crimes also include femicide and enforced disappearances.