Latest news with #SalvadoranSupremeCourt
Euronews
6 days ago
- General
- Euronews
Salvadoran ex-army officers convicted for murder of Dutch journalists
A court in El Salvador has sentenced three former senior military officers to 15 years in prison for the killing of four Dutch journalists in 1982. Jan Kuiper, Koos Koster, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemson were killed in an ambush by the Salvadoran army in the northern province of Chalatenango while filming a documentary about the Central American country's civil war, which lasted from 1980 until 1992. Late on Tuesday, a five-person jury in a Chalatenango court found three former top military officials guilty over their deaths after a trial that was closed to the public. The convicted men were former Defence Minister José Guillermo García, 91, former Treasury Police Director Francisco Morán, 93, and Mario Adalberto Reyes Mena, 85, the former army commander of the Fourth Infantry Brigade in Chalatenango. García and Morán remain under a police guard at a private hospital in the capital San Salvador, while Reyes Mena lives in the US. The Salvadoran Supreme Court started extradition proceedings in March to bring him back to face justice. García was deported from the US in 2016, with a US judge declaring him responsible for serious human rights violations during the Salvadoran civil war. Óscar Pérez, lawyer for the Foundation Comunicandonos that represented the victims' families, said prosecutors had requested a minimum 15-year prison sentence for all three men. Shortly before they were killed, the four Dutch reporters, who were making a documentary for Ikon TV, had joined up with guerrillas to film behind enemy lines. Salvadoran soldiers armed with assault rifles and machine guns then ambushed them and the guerrillas. Pérez told reporters that there was 'sufficient proof' that 'deliberate and well-planned military action' led to the Dutch journalists' killings. The same assessment was also made by the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador after the end of the civil war. The lawyer added that the judge in the case also condemned the Salvadoran government, ordering President Nayib Bukele to apologise publicly to the victims in his role as head of the country's armed forces. Juan Carlos Sánchez, from the NGO Mesa Contra la Impunidad, said the trial was a 'transcendental step that the victims have waited 40 years for'. The prosecution of the military officials was relaunched in 2018, after the country's highest court ruled that the general post-civil war amnesty was unconstitutional. In March 2022, relatives of the victims as well as representatives of the Dutch government and the EU demanded that the suspects be tried. Some of the men accused of being involved in the killings had already died, including Mario Canizales Espinoza, who was believed to have led the patrol that carried out the massacre. Some 75,000 Salvadoran civilians were killed during the civil war, most of whom died at the hands of the US-backed government security forces.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
El Salvador holds trial for army killing of Dutch journalists
A former defense minister and two colonels went on trial in El Salvador Tuesday for the killings of four Dutch journalists 43 years ago, an NGO assisting the victims' families said. Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemsen were killed in 1982 while filming a television documentary during El Salvador's civil war. The accused are General Jose Guillermo Garcia, 91, former police colonel Francisco Antonio Moran, 93, and ex-infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes Mena, 85. In 1993, a UN-sponsored Truth Commission found the journalists had walked into an ambush planned by Reyes, who lives in the United States, and with the knowledge of other officers. The Salvadoran Supreme Court approved an extradition request for Reyes in March, but there has been no progress so far. Garcia and Moran are under police surveillance in a private hospital in San Salvador. The hearing in the northern city of Chalatenango is expected to conclude on Wednesday with a verdict from a five-member jury. If convicted, the defendants face prison sentences of up to 30 years. The trial was closed to the media, but activist Oscar Perez of the Fundacion Comunicandonos confirmed from the courtroom that it was under way. The NGO and the Salvadoran Association for Human Rights hailed the trial as a "decisive step" in the search for truth and justice. "We trust that this trial sets a historic precedent in the fight against impunity," they said in a joint statement. The Netherlands' Costa Rica-based ambassador to Central America, Arjen van den Berg, was in court. The case remained unresolved for decades after the presiding judge received threats in 1988, prompting her to seek refuge in Canada. It was reopened in 2018 after the Supreme Court declared an amnesty law for civil war crimes unconstitutional, but relatives of the victims still had to wait years for the main hearing. Evidence such as a statement from a former US military attache and a military expert's report "directly points" to the defendants' responsibility, said lawyer Pedro Cruz, who represents the victims' families. More than 75,000 people were killed in El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war pitting the military against leftist guerrillas. cmm/fj/dr/md
France 24
03-06-2025
- General
- France 24
El Salvador holds trial for army killing of Dutch journalists
Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemsen were killed in 1982 while filming a television documentary during El Salvador's civil war. The accused are General Jose Guillermo Garcia, 91, former police colonel Francisco Antonio Moran, 93, and ex-infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes Mena, 85. In 1993, a UN-sponsored Truth Commission found the journalists had walked into an ambush planned by Reyes, who lives in the United States, and with the knowledge of other officers. The Salvadoran Supreme Court approved an extradition request for Reyes in March, but there has been no progress so far. Garcia and Moran are under police surveillance in a private hospital in San Salvador. The hearing in the northern city of Chalatenango is expected to conclude on Wednesday with a verdict from a five-member jury. If convicted, the defendants face prison sentences of up to 30 years. The trial was closed to the media, but activist Oscar Perez of the Fundacion Comunicandonos confirmed from the courtroom that it was under way. The NGO and the Salvadoran Association for Human Rights hailed the trial as a "decisive step" in the search for truth and justice. "We trust that this trial sets a historic precedent in the fight against impunity," they said in a joint statement. The Netherlands' Costa Rica-based ambassador to Central America, Arjen van den Berg, was in court. The case remained unresolved for decades after the presiding judge received threats in 1988, prompting her to seek refuge in Canada. It was reopened in 2018 after the Supreme Court declared an amnesty law for civil war crimes unconstitutional, but relatives of the victims still had to wait years for the main hearing. Evidence such as a statement from a former US military attache and a military expert's report "directly points" to the defendants' responsibility, said lawyer Pedro Cruz, who represents the victims' families.
CNN
03-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Lawyers ask El Salvador's Supreme Court to evaluate legality of detention of Venezuelans deported by the US
A team of lawyers representing the families of 30 Venezuelans sent by the United States to a mega prison in El Salvador asked the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice on Monday to evaluate the legality of their detention. One of the attorneys, Jaime Ortega, said they were hired by the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to file an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court, which would also apply to the rest of the 238 Venezuelans deported on the orders of US President Donald Trump. 'We are asking the court to review their legal status and issue a ruling. If their detention is illegal, it should immediately order their release,' Ortega told reporters. CNN has requested more information from the Venezuelan government. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said last week that the US sent 238 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, though he didn't identify them or provide evidence for that claim. El Salvador agreed to take them in and lock them up at its Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), considered the largest prison in Latin America. US authorities have acknowledged that not all deportees had criminal records. The Trump administration said 137 of those migrants were deported under the Alien Enemies Act. Use of the act, previously used only in wartime, under these circumstances is currently under judicial scrutiny in the US. The lawyers in El Salvador said that if this is an immigration matter, they hope the Salvadoran Supreme Court will order that the Venezuelans be sent back to their countries. The judges have no set deadline to resolve the appeal. Juan Pappier, Americas Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, cautioned that it was 'unrealistic' to expect the court to go against the Bukele administration. 'I understand (the families') desperation and I think they should use whatever avenue they can find available,' Pappier said. 'Sadly, the Supreme Court in El Salvador doesn't have any independence. It was completely co-opted by the Bukele administration. So, I think it's sadly unrealistic to believe that they will do anything that the Bukele administration wouldn't agree with,' he told CNN. Pappier argued that these types of deportations violate UN principles that forbid countries from transferring individuals to a place 'where they can risk facing torture and other grave human rights violations.' The National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom of Expression, a Salvadoran government agency, said families of Venezuelan deportees held in Cecot could petition the Salvadoran government for their release. The agency told CNN that as of Monday morning, it had received seven requests to review the detentions. 'We will process each case and carry out the corresponding verifications,' presidential commissioner Andrés Guzmán said. CNN's Ivonne Valdés and Hira Humayun contributed to this report.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawyers ask El Salvador's Supreme Court to evaluate legality of detention of Venezuelans deported by the US
A team of lawyers representing the families of 30 Venezuelans sent by the United States to a mega prison in El Salvador asked the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice on Monday to evaluate the legality of their detention. One of the attorneys, Jaime Ortega, said they were hired by the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to file an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Salvadoran Supreme Court, which would also apply to the rest of the 238 Venezuelans deported on the orders of US President Donald Trump. 'We are asking the court to review their legal status and issue a ruling. If their detention is illegal, it should immediately order their release,' Ortega told reporters. CNN has requested more information from the Venezuelan government. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said last week that the US sent 238 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, though he didn't identify them or provide evidence for that claim. El Salvador agreed to take them in and lock them up at its Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), considered the largest prison in Latin America. US authorities have acknowledged that not all deportees had criminal records. The Trump administration said 137 of those migrants were deported under the Alien Enemies Act. Use of the act, previously used only in wartime, under these circumstances is currently under judicial scrutiny in the US. The lawyers in El Salvador said that if this is an immigration matter, they hope the Salvadoran Supreme Court will order that the Venezuelans be sent back to their countries. The judges have no set deadline to resolve the appeal. Juan Pappier, Americas Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, cautioned that it was 'unrealistic' to expect the court to go against the Bukele administration. 'I understand (the families') desperation and I think they should use whatever avenue they can find available,' Pappier said 'Sadly, the Supreme Court in El Salvador doesn't have any independence. It was completely co-opted by the Bukele administration. So, I think it's sadly unrealistic to believe that they will do anything that the Bukele administration wouldn't agree with,' he told CNN. The National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom of Expression, a Salvadoran government agency, said families of Venezuelan deportees held in Cecot could petition the Salvadoran government for their release. The agency told CNN that as of Monday morning, it had received seven requests to review the detentions. 'We will process each case and carry out the corresponding verifications,' presidential commissioner Andrés Guzmán said. CNN's Ivonne Valdés and Hira Humayun contributed to this report.
