Deaths that occurred during the emergency regime in El Salvador are exposed to the IACHR

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold this Friday the hearing “Human rights and states of emergency in El Salvador”, at the request of at least 10 human rights organizations that will expose alleged extrajudicial executions that occurred during the 15 months of validity of the regime.

Since March 27, 2022, El Salvador has remained under an emergency regime that has allowed it to capture 71,479 people until July 11, and at least 142 have died in prison, according to official data.

“The State says that these deaths are due to natural causes. However, relatives and independent experts have identified signs of torture on the bodies. Other times the death was due to lack of medical care,” explained the Due Process Foundation (DPLF), which will participate in the hearing.

The civil organization Cristosal announced in an annual report on the exception regime that the deaths were 153 and the causes were “violent death, probable violent death, natural or pathological death, and death suspected of criminality.”

For the requesting organizations, including Amnesty International, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Passionist Social Service (SSPAS), and others, the Salvadoran State has the obligation to investigate those deaths and, if found guilty, punish them.

“This is a commitment acquired by the State when it adhered to the American Convention on Human Rights, a treaty by which it allowed the IACHR to monitor the human rights situation,” added DPLF.

In a television interview on June 13, the attorney general, Rodolfo Delgado, said that the institution has managed to identify 142 deaths inside the prisons. And that these were filed because they were “natural deaths.”

“Some of those causes (of prison deaths) were related to pre-existing illnesses. Others were some kind of illness in which help was provided at the right time by the prison authorities, but unfortunately there was death from natural causes,” said the official on the interview program “Diálogo” on channel 21.

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