Saturday, October 23, 2021

El Salvador Army Is Sued in SDNY for Torture and Crimes Against Humanity, More Delay

 

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 20 –   Jose Amilcar Choto Pleitez has sued El Salvador and a slew of military figures, for torture, extrajudicial killings and other crimes against humanity. 

 The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where it was found in the docket by Inner City Press which covers the SDNY, in exile from the UN which is increasingly inactive on such crimes.

Jose Amilcar Choto Pleitez now lives in Tennessee. He states that his son was abducted by the El Salvador Armed Forces and presumed tortured and killed on February 18, 2014.

 Also named in the complaint are former Minister of Defense General Deavid Munguia Payes, Sergeant Santo Manuel Coreto Ramirez of the Sixth Military Detachment and five soldiers.

 The case has been assigned to District Judge Paul G. Gardephe; a May 20 initial conference was scheduled.

The plaintiffs on May 12 wrote seeking to postpone the conference, and filed an amended complaint.

On October 19 they wrote again, to postpone the October 21 conference, saying they've hired a law firm in El Salvador to effect service, which they say will take two months. On October 20 Judge Gardephe moved the initial pre-trial conference to March 24, 2022.

The case is Choto Pleitez v. Republic of El Salvador, 21-cv-1424 (Gardephe).

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