El Salvador tries over 400 gang leaders

A Salvadoran court on Tuesday began the mass trial of over 400 alleged leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha criminal gang, commonly known as MS-13, in a case involving more than 47,000 crimes prosecutors say were committed between 2012 and 2022.

Prosecutors said the 486 defendants ordered homicides, feminicides, extortion, arms trafficking and forced disappearances, and also charged them with rebellion for allegedly seeking to establish a parallel state through territorial control.

The Salvadoran Prosecutor's Office, which has presented autopsies, ballistic analyses, and witness testimony as evidence, requested the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence for each crime, meaning that a single defendant could face a sentence of up to 245 years in prison if found guilty of all charges.

Authorities said the case included orders given to kill 86 people between March 25 and 27, 2022, considered the most violent weekend in post-war El Salvador.