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2w ago

El Salvador Congressional Committee Advances Detention Extension and 600 Collective Trials

It would extend prosecutors’ deadline by two years with an option for a third year to manage tens of thousands of pretrial detainees

FILE - El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele gives a press conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez, File)
El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, which is dominated by President Nayib Bukele's ruling party, approved a reform which delayed the deadline for planned mass trials of accused gang members
President Nayib Bukele, who describes himself as "the world's coolest dictator," in the White House earlier this year

Overview

  • The full legislature, controlled by President Nayib Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party, is set to approve the measure imminently after the committee’s favorable opinion.
  • Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado said 300 prosecutors and 44 organized-crime judges would launch roughly 600 collective trials to handle the backlog of cases.
  • The proposed framework would manage between 80,000 and 88,750 people arrested under the 2022 state of emergency without formal charges.
  • Critics including opposition deputies and human rights groups caution that mass trials and extended pretrial detention erode the presumption of innocence.
  • Proponents say the reforms will streamline evidence gathering, ease court overload and reinforce public security.