“With this person (Ernesto Mushond) I think it was a kind of public assassination,” says Cardinal Rosa Chavez.

Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez described the judicial process facing the former mayor of San Salvador as “a kind of public assassination with which this man (Ernesto Mushond)’s honor was not respected”. , He is charged with tax evasion or breach of feelings and obligations.

This, the cardinal clarified at a press conference this Sunday that a convict is different from a convicted prisoner and pointed out that “there is cruelty of the people of the state against him.”

“The manner in which the case was handled was very sad. Although he was guilty, he deserved respectable treatment. We did not see it. We have seen the cruelty against him by the people of the state. I am very sorry, very sad.

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He explained that even if he is later found guilty, he has a right to respect. The cardinal believed that these measures were not acceptable from any point of view, and regretted that this was language that appeared to be “normal.”

“For now, he’s a defendant, he’s a criminal, that’s what he’s publicly called,” he said, and in that sense “we should not admit it is right, we think we should change it to express ourselves to people who do not think they are one.”

What does the human rights defender think?

Celia Metrono is a human rights defender who, in that view, agrees with the Cardinal’s statements.

“I share the views expressed by Cardinal Rosa Chavez on the strict adherence to the human rights of the people. The treatment should not be used against any person, regardless of whether the person is Ernesto Mushond or not,” Metrono said.

He further added that in this case, three human rights must be respected without hindrance. First, the right to due process and that which is to be investigated by an independent and impartial tribunal.

However, he pointed out that “pressures on the executive and the executive in the prosecutor’s office and the right of the Supreme Court make it very difficult for them to be respected and this person should be prosecuted.” Area and Independent Court “.

The second step is to respect the assumption that he is innocent, which, in Metrono’s view, is now a public and media condemnation of Mushond.

Third, he pointed to an ongoing political process in this case. “If this is a political revenge and there is evidence that this person or any other person who could be prosecuted against this person is guilty, the legal proceedings associated with it should be respected,” he concluded.

Judicial process of the former mayor

Ernesto Mushond, the former mayor of San Salvador, along with two former employees of the San Salvador mayor’s office, faced an initial investigation Monday for the crime of acquiring tax breaks.

According to the prosecutor’s office, from June to December 2020, the mayor’s office withheld income tax from employees of the Directorate of Solid Waste, which will not be paid to the Ministry of Finance.

After more than four hours of trial, San Salvador’s Third Court of Peace has ordered the temporary arrest of Mushond and Fernando Heriberdo Portillo Linares.

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Defendant Francisco Jose Rivera Sagan ordered alternative measures of detention in custody: signing in court every 15 days, granting bail of five thousand dollars without leaving the country.

In brief statements to the media and after hearing the court’s ruling, Muizhond promised that he would go on a hunger strike.