P 222100Z FEB 06 FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1118 C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000450 SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: ALL

BUT ONE SUSPECT IN SOTO MURDER FOUND NOT GUILTY REF: A. 2004 SAN SALVADOR 3558 B. 2005 SAN SALVADOR 547 Classified By: DCM Michael A. Butler, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 1. (C) SUMMARY: A sentencing tribunal on February 17 absolved two of three suspects accused in the November 5, 2004 murder of AmCit labor activist Gilberto Soto. One man was convicted in the crime and will likely be sentenced Friday. Prosecutors will appeal the court's findings to the Supreme Court (CSJ). END SUMMARY. 2. (C) In the fifteen months since Soto's murder, the case has generated considerable controversy in the wake of accusations that some political motive might lay behind the labor activist's death. The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH) immediately characterized the homicide as an "extrajudicial execution", and alleged that police had brutally tortured suspects following their December 3, 2004 arrests to extract confessions (see reftel A). (Note: Following comprehensive

examinations by independent medical experts that revealed no evidence of torture, the suspects changed their accounts, and such allegations have since played little role in the case. End note.) In February 2005 (see reftel B), credible allegations surfaced that PDDH representatives had offered the detainees immigration benefits, job offers, and money to change their testimony implicating Soto's mother-in-law in his murder. A $75,000 reward offered by Soto's employer, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), yielded no meaningful leads, despite a special Embassy hotline dedicated to the case through 2005. 3. (C) The criminal court (Court of Instruction) on February 15 forwarded the case to the threejudge Usulutan sentencing tribunal, after determining that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to merit the cases's further proceeding to trial. The sentencing tribunal called witnesses for both the prosecution and defense through the remainder of the week; Friday afternoon (February 17), Prosecutor Rodolfo Montes Delgado expressed to emboffs his confidence that the strong case the government had made against the defendants promised an early outcome to the trial and guilty verdicts for all. The following evening (Saturday, February 18), at approximately 8:00 p.m., sentencing tribunal Judge Claudia Yanira Callejas announced that the court had found Soto's mother-in-law Rosa Elba Zelaya de Ortiz (alleged intellectual author of the crime) and suspected shooter Santos Sanchez Ayala innocent of all charges. Only Herbert Joel Ramirez Gomez was found guilty; his sentencing is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Friday, February 24.

4. (C) The Office of the Attorney General (FGR) has publicly protested the not-guilty verdicts, and in accordance with established Salvadoran procedures in non-jury criminal cases will present a writ of extraordinary appeal (cassation) before the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court (CSJ), and seek to stop further enforcement of the sentencing tribunal's verdicts. Under Salvadoran law, such motions can only be filed after sentencing. 5. (C) COMMENT: The verdicts will no doubt generate more controversy and renewed calls to find the "real killers"--i.e., the shadowy "right-wing death squads" or sinister corporate assassins of so many political observers' imaginations. Butler (Edited and reading.) reformatted by Andres for ease of