El Salvador kicks off historic mass trial against MS-13 leadership: nearly 500 defendants in the dock
According to the Central American Attorney General's Office, the alleged criminals are attributed with some 47,000 crimes committed between 2012 and 2022, including approximately 29,000 homicides.
MS-13 gang member. File image.
In San Salvador, the Salvadoran justice system on Monday opened an unprecedented trial against 486 alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha, including founders and high-level leaders, in what authorities consider the first mass trial targeting a gang's command structure.
Scope of the judicial process
According to the Salvadoran Attorney General's Office El Salvador, the defendants are attributed with some 47,000 crimes committed between 2012 and 2022, including approximately 29,000 homicides. The case also includes charges of rebellion, under the argument that the organization sought to exercise territorial control to establish a "parallel state," to the detriment of national sovereignty.
Among the most serious facts pointed out by the Public Prosecutor's Office is the order to murder 87 people in a single weekend in March 2022, an episode that marked a turning point in the country's security policy.
Judicial authorities indicated that the process includes members of the so-called 'ranfla' of the MS-13, its highest hierarchy, as well as regional leaders and founders of the structure.
Context: State of Emergency and Security Policy
The government maintains that these measures have been key to dismantling organizations such as MS-13 and Barrio 18, which for decades came to exert control over large areas of the country.
According to official figures, in approximately 30 years of criminal activity, the gangs would have been responsible for up to 200,000 deaths, including missing persons.
What will the trial be like?
The hearing, called a 'single open hearing,' is being held under an exceptional format. Of the defendants, 413 are appearing virtually, while 73 will be tried in absentia because they are fugitives.
More than 250 defendants are being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum security prison opened by the Bukele government to house alleged gang members.
During the installation of the process, the judge affirmed that the accused will be prosecuted 'with the full weight of the law,' underlining that the crimes were not isolated acts, but part of an organized structure.
The Prosecutor's Office said it has "abundant evidence" to seek maximum sentences, in a context in which the country is moving towards the implementation of life imprisonment for serious crimes such as homicide and terrorism.
Reactions and questions
Although the anti-gang offensive enjoys broad popular support, human rights organizations have expressed concern about procedural guarantees.
Entities such as Human Rights Watch and Cristosal warn that mass trials could violate the right to an individualized defense, increasing the risk of wrongful convictions.
Gang background
Their influence profoundly marked the social, economic and political life of El Salvador, generating one of the most persistent contexts of violence in the region.
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