San Salvador. – A group of 16 people, including former police officers and ex-military personnel, who were dedicated to the murder of alleged gang members and other people, were sentenced to prison terms of between 20 and 60 years in El Salvador for several homicides between 2019 and 2020, according to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) on Monday night.
“The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) obtained that 16 members of the extermination group (sicariato) called Paz o Muerte from the eastern zone be sentenced to penalties ranging from 20 to 60 years in prison,” the source indicated in a bulletin.
He specified that the sentence was imposed by the Second Court Against Organized Crime, in the eastern city of San Miguel, and that 8 defendants were present and the rest were sentenced in absentia.
Participation of ex-police officers and ex-military
He detailed that these people were convicted of murdering 6 people, crimes in which “the criminals arrived at the victims’ homes, using dark clothing similar to that of the National Civil Police (PNC) and simulated a search warrant” to assassinate them.
He detailed that the criminal court sentenced Alejandro Monterrosa, Salvador de Jesús Villalobos López, and Juan Zapata Ramos to 60 years in prison for committing three aggravated homicides, while Andrés Alberto Murillo Roque, Agustín de Jesús Rivas López, Yobani Alexander Crespo Romero, Víctor Manuel Romero Herrera, and Gerardo Polillo Rivera were sentenced to 40 years in prison for two aggravated homicides.
The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that the rest of the convicted received a sentence of 20 years in prison and maintained that “this criminal structure was made up of former police officers, former military personnel and civilians, and they murdered gang members or people with whom they had problems.”
In February 2025, a court against Organized Crime in El Salvador sentenced members of an extermination group made up of former police officers, ex-military personnel, and private security guards to more than 1,000 years in prison for 32 homicides.
