A criminal court in El Salvador sentenced former President Mauricio Funes to 14 years in prison, who currently lives in Nicaragua, for the crimes committed in the framework of a truce between the gangs during his government.
“Former President Mauricio Funes has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and David Munguía Payés, former Minister of Justice and Security, has received a sentence of 18 years in prison,” the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) reported on Twitter.
(Keep reading: Exclusive: This is the Colombian who went to work with President Nayib Bukele.)
#Last minute I Former President Mauricio Funes has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and David Munguía Payés, former Minister of Justice and Security, has received a sentence of 18 years in prison.
The @FGR_SV he presented abundant evidence that proved the guilt of the former officials. pic.twitter.com/cs9W5rdDGt
— Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador (@FGR_SV) May 29, 2023
Funes, who was tried in absentia after a legal reform that allows it, Thus, he becomes the second president of the Salvadoran democratic stage to receive a prison sentence.
The Prosecutor’s Office explained that Funes received 8 years for the charge of illegal groups and six years for breach of duty.
These sentences and charges were the same for the retired general Munguía Payés, who also received 4 years in prison for arbitrary acts.
Between 2012 and 2014, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13), Barrio 18 and other minority gangs maintained an armistice to reduce the homicide figures backed by the Funes government.
(Also: At least 160 people have died in El Salvador during a state of emergency: report).
According to the Public Ministry, this truce stipulated favors for these gangs.such as prison benefits for imprisoned leaders, public investment in the communities under their control, and a reduced presence of the security forces in the neighborhoods dominated by said structures.
Funes denied, after testifying at the Prosecutor’s Office in 2016, that his government has given perks to imprisoned gang leaders in exchange for a decrease in homicides.
However, in the trial against the so-called operators of the truceretired General Munguía Payés testified as a witness and changed the official version by stating that the armistice was a “pacification” policy.
In June 2019, an anti-mafia court sentenced seven operators of the controversial truce between the gangs to between two and three years in prison.
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*With information from EFE
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