Press Release of CRIPDES and CORDES – July 20, 2007

POLITICAL VERDICT, PARTIAL VICTORY 

CRIPDES and CORDES inform you:

Thursday the 19th of July around 8:30 pm, the Special Penal Tribune announced, through representation by the Judges Gloria de la Paz Lizama and Sandra Chicas, a verdict that does not leave any doubt about the political decisions of the ARENA government in the treatment of the events in Suchitoto this past 2nd of July.

Of the 13 people who are still being held in prison, four of them, José Ever Fuentes Herrera, Sandra Isabel Guatemala, Maria Haydee Chicas and Beatriz Eugenia Nuila Gonzáles, will be granted the following “Conditional Terms of Liberty.”

They will be obliged to present themselves every 15 days before a Special Judge with understanding of the case
They are prohibited from leaving the country without judicial authorization
They are prohibited from changing their place of residence without judicial authorization, for which they must inform the corresponding authorities.

Although they will not be held in prison, the prosecution of said defendants does not end here, since according to the penal Tribune, they will all be tried, since the Tribune has not dropped the charges of terrorism and will prosecute them accordingly.

The defense lawyers declared that the verdict of Thursday the 19th, announced by the Judges Gloria de la Paz Lizama and Sandra Chicas, is erroneous and paradoxical, since the 13 people detained are being charged under the same circumstances, and as such the same treatment should be allowed for all thirteen, and not just four.  Also, the team of lawyers considers its mission to overturn the charges of acts of terrorism, that all the defendants be granted unrestricted liberty, without any charges pending.

It is of concern that while Judges deliberated the verdict, representatives of the Salvadoran State Department (Ministerio de Gobernación) arrived to influence a verdict that in theory should have been strictly under the jurisdiction of the Penal Tribune.  This illustrates once again the manipulative handling of the judicial system of our country by the government party.  Because of this, we call upon the different organizations and federations of national and international judges to denounce these practices that endanger transparency and the application of justice in El Salvador.

The families of the detained as well as members of organizations and associations who have accompanied this process awaited a favorable resolution of the appeal filed on the 12th of July, so all the detained would be granted liberty.  The partial verdict of the Judges Gloria de la Paz Lizama and Sandra Chicas impedes that all the political prisoners be reunited with their families.

Nevertheless, we are satisfied that conditional liberty has been granted to José Ever Fuentes Herrera, Sandra Isabel Guatemala, Maria Haydee Chicas, and Beatriz Eugenia Nuila González, since although they have not completely regained their sacred freedom, the unjust accusations against them become somewhat less unbearable if they are able to reunite with their families and not have to continue captive, in inhuman conditions and treatment, inside the jails of Mariona and Ilopango.  Although partial, this victory demonstrates the false nature of the accusations against those detained.

To the rest of those detained: Marta Lorena Araujo Martínez, Rosa María Centeno Valle, Manuel Antonio Rodríguez Escalante, Héctor Antonio Ventura Vásquez, Vicente Vázquez Bacilio, Marta Yanira Méndez, Clemente Guevara Bátrez, Santos Noé Mancía Ramírez and Patricio Valladares Aquino, we send you a strong message of solidarity, of permanent accompaniment and untiring struggle until we achieve liberty for all those captured.

In response, we call on all the popular organizations and the population in general to prepare ourselves to participate in national and international activities for the freedom of the political prisoners of El Salvador.

For their part, the team of defense lawyers will continue with all the legal efforts necessary to achieve freedom for those detained.

The call is also to unite and strengthen ourselves to stop the attack that dark sectors of the ARENA government are implementing with the goal of returning to the past of death, repression, and the violation of human rights in El Salvador, putting at risk the incipient democratic process that began with the signing of the peace accords.

CRIPDES

CORDES

San Salvador, 20th of July 2007.

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