Fatma Zehra Solmaz
04 July 2025•Update: 04 July 2025
ISTANBUL
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has firmly rejected allegations that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a former US resident, suffered physical abuse and psychological torture while he was incarcerated at Cecot, a high-security prison in El Salvador.
In a post on X on Friday, Bukele stated that Abrego Garcia "wasn’t tortured, nor did he lose weight," while also sharing images and video footage of him inside a detention cell.
"If he’d been tortured, sleep-deprived, and starved, why does he look so well in every picture?" Bukele wrote.
He further expressed: "Apparently, anything a criminal claims is accepted as truth by the mainstream media and the crumbling Western judiciary."
In new court filings submitted Wednesday, part of a lawsuit initiated by Abrego Garcia's wife against the Trump administration, Abrego Garcia and 20 other detainees were allegedly repeatedly beaten upon their arrival at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Centre, known as Cecot, BBC reported.
The documents state that Abrego Garcia and the others “were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.”
The complaint states that due to the alleged mistreatment, he lost 30 pounds (14 kilograms) during the first two weeks of his imprisonment in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, who entered the US illegally in 2011, was granted deportation protection in 2019 due to gang-related risks in El Salvador.
In March 2025, he was mistakenly deported and held at the Cecot mega-prison. Although a judge ordered his return, the White House initially refused to comply. In late June, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled that Abrego Garcia qualified for release and he was bought back to the US. However, he has remained in custody, as his legal team continues to challenge further deportation.
