The Supreme Court of El Salvador transferred a judge following Bukele's request to open an investigation against him

The Justice of the Central American country informed the magistrate of San Salvador, Godofredo Salazar, that he would be transferred to Ilobasco, in the central department of Cabañas, where he is due to appear on Monday, April 4

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El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during a ceremony to inaugurate the expansion of the San Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez International Airport, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

The Supreme Court of Justice decided on Friday to remove San Salvador's judge, Godofredo Salazar, and send him to a court in the interior of the country. The decision came hours after President Nayib Bukele called for the removal of judges “accomplices” to organized crime and asked the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate a judge who tried to free 42 gang members.

In an email, the Court informed Judge Salazar that he would be transferred to Ilobasco, in the central department of Cabañas, where he is due on Monday, April 4. Recently, a specialized sentencing court presided over by Salazar acquitted a 42-member structure of the Barrio 18 gang operating in the municipality of Panchimalco, in the southeast of the capital, of all charges. The court based its ruling on the lack of evidence on the part of the Public Prosecutor's Office to prove the crimes and the involvement of each of the accused. None were released.

To combat the alarming violence that strikes this small Central American country, on Bukele's initiative, Congress approved on Sunday the state of emergency, which limits freedom of association, suspends a person's right to be duly informed of his rights and reasons for his arrest, as well as the assistance of a lawyer. In addition, it extends the period of administrative detention from 72 hours to 15 days and allows the authorities to intervene the correspondence and cell phones of those they consider to be suspicious.

These measures have raised questions about possible arbitrary arrests.

La Justicia del país centroamericano informó al magistrado de San Salvador, Godofredo Salazar, que sería trasladado a Ilobasco, en el departamento central de Cabañas, donde debe de presentarse el lunes 4 de abril

The suspension of constitutional guarantees does not affect freedom of expression or freedom of movement. The measure will last 30 days, although it may be extended for another month.

Congress also passed a series of reforms to laws that tighten penalties to combat gangs and allocated $80 million to purchase weapons and equipment for the police and armed forces.

Bukele reported on social media that as of 12:00 on Thursday night the police and the armed forces, who also do public security work, had made 3,873 arrests of gang members.

The National Civil Police reported that two homicides were recorded on Thursday, one in the capital and another in the municipality of Santa Ana, in the western part of the country.

Combined police forces and soldiers have set up barricades with spikes at the entrances and exits of numerous communities across the country, where they conduct house-to-house raids in search of gang members, after the previous weekend increased murders.

Since Friday the 25th, 94 homicides have been recorded throughout the country and on Saturday alone 62 were reported, a level of homicidal violence that we have seen in years.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, while acknowledging the situation of violence and demanding urgent action against crime, has questioned what the Bukele government is doing. “Many of the actions that the Salvadoran authorities have implemented so far are inadmissible and in no way justified,” says a letter from the organization released in a press release.

(With information from AP)

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