Washington D.C, December 4th, 2023- The ruthless regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua decided, once again, to fill the prisons with innocent people and condemn them to disproportionate penalties for the simple fact of being opponents or perceiving them as such.
By the end of November, the number of people deprived of liberty for political reasons in Nicaragua continued to grow and was already estimated at almost a hundred. The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners counts at least 91 people arbitrarily imprisoned, including 17 women who are subjected to special effects because of their gender and 19 people over 60 years of age with chronic conditions that put their lives at risk.
Only 9 months after having liberated, exiled, and stripped of their nationality 222 people deprived of liberty, the regime continues filling prisons with more people that it identifies or perceives as opposers.
Additionally, other 55 people who are not in the previously mentioned list, because they are not detained either in the “La Modelo” Penitentiary System or the “La Esperanza” women’s prison since being captured in April 2023, the alternative measure of periodic reporting was imposed on them, and they are forced to arrive every day at a nearby police station to sign a document with the authorities.
Despite the fact that these numbers are high, we recall that due to the fear that the regime has imposed on families in Nicaragua, they prefer to remain silent and not denounce the situation of arbitrary detention they are experiencing, which is why there continues to be an underreporting of people detained for political reasons.
“If one political prisoner is too many, having almost 100 again is a crime for which those responsible must be punished. We must not remain indifferent to the evidence that we are facing a cynical and cruel regime that continues to violate its international human rights commitments while celebrating a supposed era of economic expansion built on the indebtedness of the Nicaraguan people, the remittances that exiles send and the suffering of all the victims of repression and their families.” warned the director of Race and Equality, Carlos Quesada.
A New Pattern of Violation of the Due Process
According to a report by the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ) presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR) this year, the regime used a different pattern with people detained during 2023 and when they were captured without a warrant, they were no longer taken to the police cells of the Evaristo Vásquez Sánchez Directorate of Judicial Assistance. rather, they were subjected to enforced disappearance in District III of Managua for up to three months.
Detainees are not even taken to the judicial complex when a sentence is to be read to them, in many cases, they find out through a video call while they are still being held in a cell.
“Families are desperate to be reunited with those who are currently illegally detained in Nicaragua and the regime only allows them visits once a month and sometimes even less frequently, refuses to authorize conjugal visits, and restricts, almost completely, visits by those who have children. The cruelty against these people is increasing and extends to the entire family,” said Christina Fetterhoff, director of programs for Race and Equality.
Torture Against People Deprived of their Liberty
The report Violations of the Human Rights of People Arbitrarily Deprived of Liberty for Political Reasons in Nicaragua, by the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, details that people who are deprived of liberty for political reasons are forced to undress every time they leave their cells and to do squats naked when they return.
The regime has not only refused to medicate people with health conditions and a case is reported of a person who complained of feeling a lot of pain and was put in an ambulance, but not to take him to a hospital, but to leave him in the vehicle, without water, food or medicine.
In addition, people are beaten, shackled 24 hours a day, humiliated and subjected to other types of torture that affect them not only physically, but also mentally. The cells where they are held are infested with mosquitoes and cockroaches; They don’t have a mattress and must sleep on cement tiles without a blanket to keep warm.
The torture of having a family member imprisoned politically
The Ortega-Murillo regime is not only affecting the mental and physical health of those arbitrarily detained in Nicaragua, but also that of their families.
The same UDJ report reflects that the psychological effects on families begin from the traumatic moment they experience when the person is detained, as it usually occurs with violence and in clear violation of private property.
Many of the political prisoners have minor children who have witnessed the capture of their father or mother, knowing of a case in which a girl had to be admitted to a hospital due to the depression caused after having witnessed the capture of her father and mother, part of the report highlights.
Families are also exposed to prolonged distress when detainees are subjected to enforced disappearance for long periods of time and are financially affected by having to travel to various locations, such as police stations, to try to find out the whereabouts of their loved ones.
A Prison Called Nicaragua
December 2023 closes with a prison called Nicaragua where the dictatorial will of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo prevails over the Constitution of the Republic and any law.
No one is safe anymore, not only those who dissent from the illegalities committed by the regime are at risk, but also their families. When the police authorities receive orders from Ortega and Murillo, the opponents are forcibly disappeared, to be later prosecuted and punished with imprisonment, torture, prolonged isolation, unacceptable restrictions on receiving visits from relatives, constant threats to hurt their sons and daughters and ultimately, even expose them or lead them to death for lack of timely medical attention. At this stage, not even state employees who had remained loyal to the regime are safe, as evidenced by what happened in the Supreme Court of Justice.
If it was previously believed that these arbitrary detentions only affected a small group of dissidents within the ranks of the FSLN, now there are almost a dozen people detained for political reasons who identified themselves as Sandinistas.
Repression, surveillance, and persecution against anyone it identifies as a threat are increasing, and the paranoia is such that it seems that everything and everyone poses a threat to a dictatorial regime that has already far surpassed the dictatorship of the Somoza family.
The international community must stop the State of Nicaragua from continuing to commit crimes against humanity! The Institute on Race and Equality and Human Rights and the organizations that participated in the campaign #NicasLibresYa, condemn and denounce before the international community that almost six years after the beginning of the April 2018 protests, no one is safe in Nicaragua and that we are facing a new wave of arrests that has the purpose of keeping the population terrified so that they refrain from exercising their freedom of expression and freedom. Your Rights.
This December, from #NicasLibresYa we will continue to demand the release of all those arbitrarily deprived of liberty for political reasons in Nicaragua, recalling that the accusations against them are false and that the sentences were imposed by authorities without independence in absolutely flawed processes. Therefore, they should all be released immediately, their charges quashed, and they should be allowed to return to their homes this holiday season.
To Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo we say: Enough of arbitrary detentions! Free those deprived of their liberty for political reasons NOW!