Nidia Barbosa

Nidia Barbosa: convicted for defending human rights in Nindirí, Masaya

Nidia Lorena Barbosa Castillo, 67, is a lawyer, originally from Nindirí, Masaya, activist, human rights defender, and member of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy (ACJD).

Nidia was arbitrarily detained on November 6, 2021, one day before the disputed presidential election to keep Ortega and Murillo in power. She was subjected to criminal proceedings, full of vices and irregularities for having published a prayer called “for a better Nicaragua” on social networks.

This was enough for the Public Ministry to charge her with the crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news. Nidia was sentenced in Masaya by Judge William Howard López, to 11 years in prison, disqualification from holding public office and an 800-day fine.

Since Nidia learned of the unjust sentence against her, her health has deteriorated considerably, added to the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment she receives from the prison authorities of Granada.

On May 19, 2021, she was taken from her cell, transferred to the Amistad Japan-Nicaragua hospital in Granada and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition, without the prison authorities notifying her family.

Her relatives learned from her that she was later discharged from the hospital and sent back to the Granada Penitentiary System, despite her delicate state of health.

Nidia is an elderly person who suffers from chronic diseases, heart failure, bradycardia and arthritis, diseases that require permanent specialized care. However, the authorities of the Granada Penitentiary System continue to hinder her medical care.

Through communication 117-2022 on May 27, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed its concern for the health of Nidia Barbosa.

The IACHR recalled that Nicaragua must provide adequate medical attention to persons deprived of liberty, an obligation that derives from the right to personal integrity established in Articles 1.1 and 5 of the American Convention on Human Rights.

Similarly, the IACHR recalled the obligation of the State to respect physical integrity, not to use cruel or inhuman treatment, and to respect the inherent dignity of the human being.

Additionally, the IACHR, considering that the incarceration of women acquires its own dimension that results in particular violations of their rights derived from their gender condition and intersectionality with other factors such as age, urged the State to adopt all necessary measures, comprehensive and with due diligence so that all their rights are effectively respected and guaranteed.

Freedom for Nidia Barbosa!

We demand from the Ortega-Murillo regime: Free Nicas now!