Kevin Solís

Kevin Solís: the student leader and human rights defender convicted of a crime he did not commit

Kevin Solis is 23 years old, originally from Managua, a university student and human rights defender, father of a girl. He has been critical of the government and has denounced the serious human rights violations that have occurred in Nicaragua since April 2018.

Kevin Solis is a survivor of the attack on the Divina Misericordia parish, which occurred on July 14, 2018, where the barricaded UNAN-MANAGUA students, who survived the armed attack by police and paramilitary forces, took refuge.

Kevin was arbitrarily detained on September 20, 2018. He was then charged and convicted, for the crimes of hindering public services and illegal carrying and use of firearms. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison and was released on April 4, 2019, under the “family cohabitation regime”.

On February 3, 2020, Kevin, along with a group of young people participated in an express protest at the facilities of the Central American University (UCA). The participants noticed the presence of a strange person who they considered to be an infiltrator and was taking pictures of them. The infiltrator later appeared giving interviews in pro-government media, stating that he had been assaulted by several young people who were at the protest and that he had been the “victim” of robbery by one of them.

In retaliation against Kevin for his student leadership and his defense of human rights on February 5, 2020, in the UCA sector and on social networks, photos and posters of the young people who had participated in the express protest began to circulate, including a photograph with Kevin’s face with the message: “Wanted”.

On February 6, Kevin was near the entrance of the UCA and was arbitrarily detained by paramilitary elements traveling in a van and taken to the Judicial Aid Office known as the “Nuevo Chipote” (New Chipote).

Kevin was charged again by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of aggravated robbery, to the detriment of the person indicated as an infiltrator by the university student body while they participated in the sit-in of February 3, 2020. He was sentenced on April 28, 2020, by Judge Meyling Soza Hernandez to four years in prison and in second instance the Court of Appeals of Managua increased the sentence to 5 years and 6 months in prison.

He is serving the unjust sentence in the Modelo Penitentiary System in a maximum security cell where he is continuously subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment with the objective of annulling his personality. His physical and psychological health has seriously deteriorated and he has no access to medical care, drinking water or adequate food.

Taking into account the serious risks Kevin faces in prison, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him precautionary measures on April 22, 2021, requesting the State of Nicaragua to adopt the necessary measures to protect his life and his personal safety and integrity. For its part, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined since August 2020 that the deprivation of liberty is arbitrary, without any legal basis to justify it and that it is the result of the exercise of his rights to freedom of opinion, expression, as well as peaceful assembly and association. The Working Group also considered that there were violations of due process. Consequently, it declared Kevin’s deprivation of liberty as arbitrary.

The State continues to fail to comply with the precautionary measures granted and to release Kevin Solís and grant him the compensation and other reparations he deserves, as urged by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Freedom for Kevin Solís!

We demand to the Ortega-Murillo regime: Free Nicas Now!