Charges against Suchitoto 13 dismissed

Eleven days after charges against the Suchitoto 13 were reduced from terrorism to public disorder, the charges were completely dismissed today by a judge in Suchitoto. It was a somewhat curious end to this case where demonstrators were originally facing 60 years in prison -- the charges were dropped after nobody from the prosecutor's office showed up in court for the hearing. According to El Faro, the representative of the prosecutors' office arrived minutes after the judge dismissed the charges, blaming his late arrival on car problems along the highway. The prosecutor indicated his office would need to decide whether to appeal the dismissal.

Comments

Anonymous said…
finally!
so these people had been held under "terrorism" accusations all this time and kept in jail or when they only arrested for a couple of days way back when the protests took place? still, makes you wonder, who, how and why runs the salvadoran judicial system, in my opinion the world's greatest joke; i say forget your right or left ideology, the bureaucrats who run this specific branch of govt must be cavemen or cavewomen, let's do away with them and replace them with more competent people who at least understand what law is and how it is supposed to function within the framework of society and government. hell, i would even appoint el visitador as judge, district attorney or even prosecutor, he at least takes constitutional law a little more seriously.
Anonymous said…
They were held in prison until international outcry forced the government to grant them provisional release awaiting trial. The international outcry came as they were put in prisons with convicted gang members, who then extorted them.