(CNN Spanish) – The Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador on Wednesday ordered President Nayib Bukele, the National Civil Police (PNC) and the Armed Forces to stop detaining people accused of violating the mandatory national quarantine in sanitary containment centers for coronavirus.
By means of a resolution, the Constitutional Chamber of the Court said that the deprivation of liberty of persons “must be provided for in a formal law and cannot be established autonomously by the Executive Branch,” and asked the Legislative Assembly and the Ministry of Health “urgently regulate the measures limiting physical freedom derived from the serious emergency situation due to the covid-19 pandemic”. Neither the Legislative Branch nor the ministry has responded to CNN’s request for comment so far.
Until Wednesday, the PNC had sent more than 1,350 people to containment centers who could not justify their stay on the streets amid the mandatory mobilization restrictions, reported the Minister of Justice and Security, Rogelio Rivas.
Bukele announced Tuesday the 15-day extension of the quarantine that began on March 21 and was due to end on April 20, to reduce the spread of the virus. The measure is contained in a decree that also establishes the guidelines for these arrests.
Authorities carry out controls and send people to containment centers if they cannot justify their presence on the streets. The government explains that they are sent to the facilities “for sanitary purposes for a period of 30 days, a process that is inspected by the Ministry of Health,” the PNC said.
The Attorney General of the Republic, Raúl Melara, said this weekend that “there are people who have been detained, evading the household quarantine for going to drink alcoholic beverages or for going for a walk” and that “these people will be processed at the end of the mandatory quarantine ”.
During house confinement, one member per family is allowed to leave to buy food and medicine, as well as the mobilization of public employees who work to attend to the pandemic emergency.
Others who can be mobilized are those who work in areas such as food, medicine, transportation, press, among others, according to the quarantine decree.
Hours after the Court published its resolution, President Bukele wrote on Twitter, without referring directly to the court, that “if you violate the quarantine, you will be held by the authorities and the Ministry of Health will order your admission to a Quarantine Center, for being a potential focus of infection ”.
He added that “it will take 30 days there, or until the health authorities can verify that you do not carry the virus.”
Until this Thursday, Bukele had not reacted directly to the Court’s ruling, but the presidential legal adviser, Javier Argueta, said that restrictions will continue to be applied to people who do not justify their transit on the streets, as reported by the Press Secretariat of the Presidency on Twitter.
“We are not going to allow them to carry a focus of contagion,” said Argueta.
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