Denis Antonio García

The veterinarian who saved human lives in the protests against Ortega

Denis Antonio García Jirón was 31 years old when he decided to join the April 2018 protests that demanded a peaceful process that would put an end to the 12 years in power that, until then, Daniel Ortega had held.

The demonstrations were repressed with lethal violence by the regime’s police and paramilitaries, who injured and killed unarmed civilians and students. Knowledge in general medicine allowed Denis García to save the lives of students who were at the National Agrarian University (UNA), and that was enough for him to become a target of the regime.

On October 12, 2019, Denis told his wife that he would participate in an “express picket”, a short-lived form of protest, but he never returned. He was captured by the police in the vicinity of the municipality of Nindirí, subjected to a judicial process in which the guarantees of due process were disrespected and on April 17, 2020, he was sentenced to five years in prison and a three-month fine for manufacturing, trafficking, possession and use of restricted weapons, despite the fact that the crime was not proven.

Denis is currently serving an unfair sentence of five years in prison in the La Modelo Penitentiary System, for a crime he did not commit, and the State of Nicaragua continues to ignore the precautionary measures granted in favor of García, such as precautionary measure number 444- 20 granted by the IACHR, to ensure the conditions of detention and that the State implement measures to protect his life and integrity. During prison he has suffered symptoms associated with Covid-19 and lack of medical attention to a pre-existing condition of a stomach tumor.

The State of Nicaragua has failed to comply with the measures ordered by the IACHR, and conditions of detention that respect international standards have not been ensured.

Freedom for Denis García Jirón!

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