El Salvador postpones MS-13 mass trial verdicts

El Salvador has postponed the Monday court date at which verdicts were expected in a mass trial of 485 alleged leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, known as MS-13.

The president's office said the reading of verdicts “has been suspended” and that a new date would be announced. It did not give an explanation for the postponement.

The defendants face more than 47,000 charges, including homicide, femicide, extortion, drug trafficking and forced disappearances. Deputy organized crime prosecutor Max Munoz had earlier said on X that the court would impose “sentences of thousands of years” on the defendants.

The mass trials are part of President Nayib Bukele's crackdown on gangs, launched after he declared a war on gangs in 2022. More than 90,000 people have been locked up since then.

Human rights groups accuse the government of crimes against humanity and of imprisoning innocent people. Amnesty International has tallied hundreds of deaths in custody.

MS-13 is one of Central America's most powerful criminal gangs and is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States. Bukele, who remains popular in El Salvador for his hardline security policies, has compared the mass trials to the Nuremberg trials of Nazis in the 1940s and will seek a third presidential term next year.