A three-month mass trial of hundreds of alleged gang members of MS-13 wrapped up Wednesday in El Salvador, with prosecutors delivering their closing arguments and asking for maximum sentences.
The proceedings against 485 members of the international criminal Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang on charges that include homicide, extortion, drugs, arms, and human trafficking, have drawn criticism by human rights groups, which say they infringe on defendants’ rights under the Latin American country’s state of emergency.
The state of emergency, enacted in March 2022, suspended some constitutional rights and tens of thousands of Salvadorans have been detained since then.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the gang members are on trial for involvement in a total of 14,420 crimes — including 444 killings — committed between 2012 and 2022. The prosecution has asked for maximum sentence for each crime, which could amount to life in prison for some and $9 million in civil damages in all.
The prosecution argued that MS-13, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, used about 1,200 children in its criminal activities, exploited 638 women, and formed 32 groups, two of which operated from outside El Salvador.
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