In El Salvador’s mass trials, lawyers struggle to defend hundreds

What the report says

Human Rights Watch has accused El Salvador’s mass-trial system of widespread due process violations, saying defence lawyers have struggled to obtain case files and properly represent hundreds of defendants. In a report published Wednesday and cited by Al Jazeera, the group reviewed four indictments involving more than 600 defendants, along with one court ruling affecting more than 120 people.

According to the report, people charged in these proceedings have faced broad accusations, thin evidence and procedural problems that make it difficult to contest the cases. HRW said some lawyers were blocked from reviewing files or speaking privately with clients. It also said many convictions appear to rest on vague claims that defendants were “collaborators” with gangs, including testimony from anonymous witnesses granted immunity.

The trials are part of President Nayib Bukele’s security crackdown, launched after a rise in organised crime and expanded through emergency powers and mass arrests beginning in 2022. El Salvador’s legislature later enabled courts to hear cases involving hundreds of defendants at once. The government argues the approach is needed to dismantle gangs, while critics say it has contributed to unlawful imprisonment. For context, Bukele has also acknowledged that some innocent people were detained in the crackdown.

HRW urged independent review of cases brought under the state of emergency and called for the release of detainees held without credible evidence. The report adds to continuing scrutiny of El Salvador’s high-incarceration system and its secretive organised-crime tribunals.