Víctor Manuel Díaz Pérez

Victor Manuel Diaz: Lured by police to accuse him of a crime he did not commit

Victor Manuel Diaz Perez is currently 29 years old. He was working in advertising when the April protests began. He is the father of a daughter.

Victor refused to make handmade weapons for Sandinista militants in the municipality of Ciudad Sandino and in July 2018 refused the offer to be a paramilitary. He was summoned to the police for a fine he had of 500 córdobas on October 4, unaware that the authorities would leave him in detention to later charge him with the crimes of murder and illegal carrying or possession of firearms and ammunition, which he did not commit.

Victor was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for the murder of self-organized protester Denis Madriz Obando after a trial in which judicial guarantees were violated and without evidence. His co-worker Franklin Quintero received the same sentence.

Madriz’s case was full of irregularities, since the beginning of the April 2018 protests he denounced that his house was besieged by vans, which were used by the regime’s police to mobilize and move paramilitary groups.

His corpse appeared in October at the Institute of Legal Medicine with two shots in the thorax, the same form of execution used with other self-convened people who participated in the demonstrations against the regime.

Victor is currently in La Modelo prison. He has been unjustly detained for more than three years in conditions that violate his human dignity and have affected his physical and mental health.

In 2020, his family reported that he presented body pain, cough and headache, some of the symptoms associated with Covid-19. On April 16, 2020, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice was requested to authorize the change of the precautionary measure of provisional detention as a preventive measure. There was no response.

Regarding the conditions of detention, Victor is being held in the La Modelo Penitentiary System, in overcrowded conditions since he shares a cell with 45 other people. He is only allowed to fill one bucket of water a day to cover all his needs.

He also faces restrictions on access to purified water for his consumption, as he is only allowed to buy it in a restricted manner and at high prices at the prison’s dispensary. On June 3, 2020, his mother visited him and observed that his symptoms had worsened and he had a severe cough.

Victor has pre-existing chronic conditions in both lungs, as well as asthma. In August 2020, he was the victim of beatings and threats by an official of the penitentiary center and it was learned that a penitentiary authority would be setting up a structure of common prisoners to beat political prisoners, which exposes Victor’s life.

Taking into account the serious and urgent risks faced by Victor, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted him precautionary measures on November 2, 2020. The State of Nicaragua has failed to implement these measures.

Freedom for Victor Diaz!

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