Caracas, (EFE). – Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced on Monday that his office will open an investigation against Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for the alleged torture and cruel treatment of 252 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have decided to open a formal investigation (…) with the three national prosecutors to the following Salvadoran officials: Nayib Armando Bukele, a tyrant who violates the Salvadoran Constitution and calls himself president,” said Saab from the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office in Caracas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other two officials are the Minister of Justice and Public Security of El Salvador, H\u00e9ctor Gustavo Villatoro, and the Vice Minister and General Director of Penal Centers, Osiris Luna Meza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saab indicated that they will be investigated for the alleged crimes of torture, cruel treatment, inhuman or degrading treatment, forced disappearance, unlawful deprivation of liberty, and conspiracy to commit crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attorney pointed out that Venezuela can initiate this investigation under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I call on the International Criminal Court, the UN Human Rights Council, and the relevant bodies in the Americas and around the world to do the same,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office said he hopes these organizations will stop enabling people who have degraded human dignity in their nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also warned that his office will pay close attention to “any other action resulting from the ongoing investigation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saab presented testimonies from a group of migrants released on Friday, who had been imprisoned since March in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador after being deported by the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States deported the migrants, accusing them of being members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young men declared in videos presented Monday by the prosecutor that they were victims of torture and mistreatment, including pellet shots, beatings, cuts, threats, sexual abuse, and poor-quality food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday, Venezuela’s Minister of Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, claimed that the 252 migrants were shot with pellets before boarding the plane back to Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro said that one of the men “lost a kidney as a result of beatings.” EFE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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