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October 21, 2024

Salvadoran Court Acquits Persecuted Water Defenders Who Helped Pass First-Ever Metal Mining Ban
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In El Salvador, a court has acquitted and freed a group of environmental
activists known as the Santa Marta 5. The five activists were
instrumental in pressuring El Salvador to issue the world's first-ever
ban on metal mining in 2017. They were arrested in January of last year
and accused of murder in what was widely denounced as political
persecution. This is one of the Santa Marta 5, Saśl Rivas, speaking
after the ruling Friday.

Saśl Rivas: "We cannot be criminalizing and detaining people for
something that happened in the past, when there was an investigation by
the Truth Commission after the peace accords and the facts that could be
considered as against humanity were cleared."



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