The attorney general’s office will charge former FMLN officials with three crimes on Sunday

Money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment are the crimes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will attribute to 10 former officials in the government of Mauricio Funes. The Public Prosecution announced that it will present the formal request (the indictment) tomorrow, Sunday, before the alternate justice of the peace in San Salvador.

“Sunday, July 25, FGR_SV will file an application, at 9:00 am, before the Duty Magistrate of San Salvador, against 10 former officials of the government of Mauricio Funes (2009-2014),” the foundation wrote. On the social network.

On Thursday afternoon, the National Civil Police arrested the former Minister of Health and former Mayor of San Salvador, Violeta Menjevar; former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Erlinda Hendal; Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Hugo Flores, former Minister of Finance, Carlos Caceres and former Deputy Calixto Mejia.

See: Organizations criticize ‘abuse of power’ in detention of former officials

In addition, the arrests of Salvador Sanchez Ceren remain pending for crimes allegedly committed while he was Vice President of the Republic between 2009 and 2014; Gerson Martinez, former Secretary of Public Works; Manuel Orlando Quinteros Aguilar, former Minister of Public Works; Lena Paul, former Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN); and José Guillermo Lopez Suárez, who served as Minister of Agriculture between 2010 and 2012 and Chairman of the Ports Independent Executive Committee (CEPA).

The FMLN described the arrests as “political persecution” by Najib Boukil’s regime.

FMLN Representative Marlene Funes denounced that prosecutors carried out “selective justice” with these arrests and that what was required was to raise Bukele’s image.

“This is selective justice, it is a reality that is being built in order to raise the profile of the president who, thanks to the bitcoin law and the increase in the base basket, is gradually diminishing,” Funes said.

SEE ALSO: The Former FMLN Officials The Prosecutor’s Office Will Order Red Broadcast

In addition, he asserted that he could not be trusted given that the Attorney General, Rodolfo Delgado, was forced into office on 1 May by the Bukele regime, Funes explained.

For its part, the Foundation for Law Enforcement Studies (Fesbad) described, through a statement, the arrest of former officials as an “abuse of power.”

“The actions that took place yesterday (Thursday) in the arrest of former government officials occurred through abuse of power and by clear indications of abuse. Where they were violated at least: due process, the presumption of innocence, the right to a lawyer, proportionality and respect for human dignity; which are aspects that must be observed from the beginning of the procedure,” Fespad stated in the letter.

In this sense, he considered that the arrests placed El Salvador in the context of the 1970s and 1980s, “a time when respect for civil rights was much less than ambitious,” he said.

Similarly, the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Fusades) issued a statement informing that due process of law is an indispensable constitutional guarantee.

“In every rule of law, the justice system must operate strictly in accordance with the constitutional system and the laws regulating its powers so that there is no impunity, but no abuses of power. They explained that due process and fundamental rights must always be respected.”

They also made it clear that neither the attorney general’s office nor the judicial branch should be used for political purposes, including initiating proceedings only when there is sufficient evidence that a crime has been committed, and judges can act freely, without undue pressure or interference.

What did former Attorney General Raul Melara say?

The Public Prosecutor who was dismissed by the Governing Council on the first of last May, Raul Melara, confirmed that the investigations that are taking place today have been started and refined by his administration, and that, according to him, a lot has been lost.

This, in a cross-word on Twitter between Melara and New Ideas deputy, Alexia Rivas.

“FMLNoficial wants the former attorney general back, because that person, even though he was wearing the tricolor shirt, would have accepted the ‘dialogues’ that were always going on,” MP Rivas said.

Melara responded to this: “This MP, is the plaintiff who initiated and removed all investigations going on today. And there’s so much to go on…”.