Organizations that make up #NicasLibresYa condemn arbitrary detentions and spurious trials carried out in one night against more than 57 Nicaraguans
Washington DC May 4, 2023. – At the end of the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day and after a series of sentences for the persecution of journalists in Nicaragua, the Ortega-Murillo regime unleashed a new wave of kidnappings, prosecuting at least 57 people in hours of the night of May 3 and the early morning of May 4.
Blue and White Monitoring, the media, and human rights organizations warned on May 4 that at least half of these people were sent to house arrest after being subjected to an expedited preliminary hearing, conducted privately, in hours of the morning without the presence of family members or defense attorneys of their choice or the independent press.
Among the people detained are journalists, members of the Peasant Movement, Mothers of April, human rights activists and members of civil society, including more than twenty women, whose homes were searched without a warrant and without committing crimes, they were stripped of all the equipment or means of communication of the detainees and all their relatives. They were subjected to arbitrary judicial hearings and daily presentation before the departmental delegations of the Police controlled by the regime.
As part of the illegalities reported, it is also that the detainees were sent to the Managua Judicial Complex, removing them from its jurisdiction and no process was opened in the corresponding departments of the country. In addition, the preliminary hearing was held divided into different rooms where they were grouped depending on the place where they were captured, without ensuring their right to defense and due process.
In February 2023, the Ortega-Murillo regime released and exiled 222 people deprived of liberty for political reasons out of a total of 245. However, as of March 2023, there were already 36 people deprived of liberty in jail.
Since the second week of April 2023, when Holy Week is commemorated and within the framework of the 5th anniversary of the civic uprising of April 2018, the regime once again captured more opposition Nicaraguans or perceived as such and the number of people deprived of liberty for political reasons it once again rose to a number not yet determined by the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners of Nicaragua. The pace of these arbitrary detentions is deeply worrying, since if this trend continues, the end of the year could reach a figure similar to the 222 people who were released and exiled on February 8 of this year or even higher, all innocent people in prison or with the restrictions of house arrest as part of a repressive strategy that has no end.
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ), the Registry Unit (UDR) and the Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Never + , from the permanent campaign #NicasLibresYa we strongly condemn that the Ortega-Murillo regime continues to persecute all sectors of the population that it identifies as opponents and violates their individual freedom and other human rights by subjecting them to spurious trials pretending to take refuge in the dark of night and without guarantees that the laws of the country are respected.
We demand that the trials be annulled, the daily filing measures that were imposed be revoked, and that these people be allowed to return to their daily lives without repercussions for themselves or their families.
The Ortega-Murillo regime of terror must end and from #NicasLibresYa we demand that the international community continue to press for the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights in Nicaragua.
No more arbitrary arrests or spurious trials!
#FreeNicasNow