A Salvadoran court on Tuesday began a collective trial of 486 alleged gang members, accused of committing over 47,000 crimes between 2012 and 2022.
The charges include homicide, femicide, extortion, and arms trafficking, with some defendants facing up to 245 years in prison if found guilty.
Human rights groups have raised concerns that the collective prosecutions violate due process and block defendants from accessing legal counsel.
The trial is one of the biggest mass trials under President Nayib Bukele's crackdown on gang violence through emergency powers, which has seen over 91,500 people detained since 2022.
Defendants are being held in five prisons, including Cecot, a notorious maximum-security prison opened by the Bukele administration in 2023.