El Salvador likely committed crimes against humanity during state of emergency, jurists say

A group of international jurists on Tuesday accused Salvadoran authorities of committing crimes against humanity in a report filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The complaint alleges systematic acts of torture, murder, and forced disappearances under the country's controversial state of exception, which the government of President Nayib Bukele imposed four years ago on March.

* The report claims there are "reasonable grounds" tobelieve crimes against humanity, as defined by Article 7 of theRome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), areoccurring. * It alleges the violations are part of a state policy"known and even promoted by the highest levels of PresidentNayib Bukele's government." * President Bukele's government first implemented the stateof exception on March 27, 2022, to combat a wave of gangviolence that left 87 people dead in one weekend. * Under the emergency decree, authorities have detained over90,000 people, and approximately 500 of those detainees havedied in state custody. * Homicides have fallen by more than 90% since Bukele tookoffice, according to government figures. * Salvadoran Public Defender General Rene Escobar denied theclaims, saying the government rejects any policy of "forceddisappearance, torture, sexual violence, or arbitraryexecutions."