An investigation into the death of a former Salvadoran security official revealed significant flaws, Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced Tuesday.
Alejandro Muyshondt had been serving as a national security advisor to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in August 2023 when he was arrested on charges of having disclosed state secrets to a political adversary. His arrest immediately incited controversy, as it occurred after he publicly accused another official of corruption and drug trafficking, according to HRW. He was forcibly disappeared, the organization reports — held in secret with no contact with his family. Six months later, in February 2024, he died in custody at the age of 46.
HRW commissioned several dozen international forensic experts to review what medical and death records they were able to obtain from local authorities. The report, compiled by the Independent Forensic Expert Group (IFEG), was completed in early October and released Tuesday by HRW.
IFEG found significant flaws in Muyshondt’s medical records and death investigation, including substantial gaps, a lack of evidence, and failure to conduct an adequate investigation into the death. They further noted that the El Salvadoran authorities had left Muyshondt’s family largely in the dark about the cause of death, autopsy report, and details of the investigation.
Medical records reviewed by the IFEG indicate Muyshondt had multiple illnesses at the time of his death, including meningitis, a brain hemorrhage, multiple organ failure, and stomach cancer. The forensic experts noted they lacked laboratory and radiological evidence for most of these claims, and found that a review of internal imaging failed to substantiate the diagnosis of multiple organ failure. Muyshondt’s preliminary cause of death was listed as pulmonary edema. His family has not been notified of further efforts to establish a final cause of death. Meanwhile, the experts note, the diagnosed brain hemorrhage could have been caused by torture or ill-treatment, though again, they lacked radiological imaging required to verify the diagnosis or corroborate its purported cause.
The IFEG found that the gaps in the investigation indicated a lack of compliance with the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death, a UN agreement that sets international standards for investigations into potentially unlawful deaths.
[The protocol] mandates that the investigation be conducted transparently with the family involved and kept informed of all actions taken. … In the case of Mr Muyshondt, it is unclear whether any investigation has been carried out, and there has been no communication with the family regarding any investigative steps taken. While the State has allegedly conducted a postmortem examination of Mr Muyshondt, it has not made the report public and has refused to provide the report to Mr Muyshondt’s family. The Minnesota Protocol further mandates that, to the extent possible, family members should be consulted prior to an autopsy and entitled to have a representative present during the procedure. This has not been done.
Muyshondt’s story is a relatively high profile iteration of a broader trend of deaths in custody since March 2022, when El Salvador declared a state of emergency in response to surging gang violence. The legal regime suspended certain constitutional rights, including due process rights. Since that time, mass arrests and at least 261 deaths in prison have spurred advocacy groups and international organizations to call for the state of emergency’s repeal.
In a press release Tuesday, HRW Americas Director Juanita Goebertus Estrada said: “The expert analysis reveals deeply troubling flaws in the treatment of Alejandro Muyshondt and the later investigation into his death. … These findings fit within a much broader pattern of human rights violations and abuse of power in El Salvador.”
Correction: The original version of this article contained factual errors related to Muyshondt’s arrest and detention. The article has been revised to address these issues.
