- Title: Murder retrial of Salvadoran woman over stillborn son enters second day
- Date: 16th August 2019
- Summary: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (AUGUST 16, 2019) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS GATHERED OUTSIDE OF COURTHOUSE IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT PLACARD HELD UP BY PROTESTER THAT READS (Spanish) "JUSTICE FOR EVELYN" PROTESTER RALLYING OTHERS GATHERED OUTSIDE ELDERLY WOMAN AT PROTEST PROTESTERS GATHERED DEFENCE LAWYER, BERTHA DE LEON, SPEAKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEFENCE LAWYER, BERTHA DE LEON, SAYING: "As the defence we are hoping for a complete acquittal. We believe that the prosecution has been excessive on this woman, for a case that has no evidence of an intention to kill." DE LEON ENTERING COURTHOUSE GENERAL VIEW OF COURTROOM VARIOUS OF HERNANDEZ (CENTRE) WITH DEFENCE TEAM AND SUPPORTERS HERNANDEZ WITH HER HANDS ON HER LAP HERNANDEZ IN COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEFENDANT, EVELYN HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "I'm just asking for justice to be done, for a favourable judgement and that I am always optimistic. (Reporter: Do you enter the courtroom with hope?) Yes." HERNANDEZ DURING HEARING, SUPPORTER HOLDING UP PLACARD NEXT TO HER THAT READS (Spanish) "JUSTICE FOR EVELYN" HERNANDEZ, DEFENCE AND SUPPORTERS IN COURT
- Embargoed: 30th August 2019 20:33
- Keywords: baby San Salvador murder retrial stillboard court abortion Evelyn Hernandez El Salvador woman
- Location: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
- City: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
- Country: El Salvador
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001ASGXZYF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Supporters gathered on Friday (August 16) outside a Salvadoran courtroom where a young woman is on day two of a trial for aggravated homicide after a stillbirth.
The retrial of Evelyn Hernandez, 21, is a closely watched case that could overturn a 30-year prison sentence handed down after prosecutors said she had induced an abortion.
El Salvador bans abortion in all circumstances.
Bertha de Leon, Hernandez's lawyer, has argued the prosecution has failed to prove that her client "wanted to kill the newborn, but instead it was a complicated birth."
In February, the Supreme Court had ordered Hernandez released and retried because the original judge's decision was based on prejudice and insufficient evidence.
Hernandez has served three years of the three-decade sentence that was handed down. Hernandez had said that she was unaware of her pregnancy when she delivered a stillborn son in 2016.
She again stated her innocence in the retrial, which began in mid-July but went on recess due to the illness of a witness.
Hernandez, a domestic worker who was studying to be a nurse, has said she was impregnated after being raped by a gang member.
Any intentional termination of a pregnancy in El Salvador can be prosecuted as a crime, including stillbirths due to home delivery or abortions induced because of medical emergencies.
Some 147 Salvadoran women were sentenced to up to 40 years in prison in such cases between 2000 and 2014, according to the Citizen Group for the Decriminalisation of Abortion.
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