The government of The Savior denied this Friday in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that inmates are being tortured in this country’s prisons under a state of emergency, in force since March 2022.
Commissioner Carlos Bernal pointed out at the hearing that there are allegations from humanitarian organizations “People tortured and killed inside prisons”which “It is very worrying”.
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The presidential commissioner for Human Rights and Freedom of Expression, Andrés Guzmán, denied that such practices are taking place in Salvadoran prisons.
“In El Salvador, there is no torture in the prisons. People are not murdered here, this is not a political struggle, these are not concentration camps.”Guzman said.
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He added that “This statement is totally false”while the Salvadoran foreign minister stated that “We are complying with all international standards of deprivation of liberty”.
The diplomat said that the allegations of human rights violations in El Salvador by humanitarian organizations are “unfounded accusations that are far removed from our reality”. “El Salvador is not, nor will it be under the current Administration, an authoritarian and repressive State”he noted.
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The virtual hearing was held at the request of various humanitarian organizations within the framework of the 190th session of the regional organization.
According to figures from the Legal and Humanitarian Aid Service (SJH), more than 300 people have died in state custody since March 2022, most of them with signs of violence.
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El Salvador is under a state of emergency following an escalation of violence in March 2022 attributed to gangs and which investigations by local media El Faro indicate occurred after the breakdown of an alleged pact between the gangs and the Government of Nayib Bukele.
In this context, the authorities have reported more than 80,100 arrests, while organizations have received more than 6,000 complaints of human rights violations, mainly due to arbitrary detentions.
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According to a recently released report by Cristosal, more than 170 minors were orphaned after the death of their father, mother or both in El Salvador’s prisons in the context of the state of emergency.
