Salvadoran ex-leader Saca exits prison after decade of confinement

Elias Antonio Saca, the former head of state in El Salvador, has been released from custody.

The 61-year-old arrived at a court facility on Thursday to formally document the end of his 10-year sentence.

Saca accepted a plea agreement in which he admitted to misusing and laundering more than $300 million in public money collected between 2004 and 2009.

His attorney, Mario Machado, stated that Saca served the full duration of the term without receiving any early-release credits.

Saca was initially taken into custody during his son's wedding ceremony in 2016.

In September 2018, a judge handed down consecutive five-year sentences for embezzlement and money laundering.

The plea deal allowed the former executive to avoid a potential 30-year term behind bars.

Prosecutors argued during the initial trial that Saca took funds from the state budget for himself and others.

They noted that he diverted more than $7 million to his former party, the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance.

In 2019, a court found Saca guilty of offering $10,000 to a court employee for information regarding a case against him.

A judge ruled that this additional charge was part of his existing 10-year term rather than a separate sentence.

Saca is a businessman and radio broadcaster who served as president before his conviction for corruption offenses became final and binding in the national legal system records for 2026.