First modification:
The Nicaraguan authorities detained on Wednesday night, May 3, more than 50 opponents and critics of the Government of Daniel Ortega. Among them are journalists, human rights defenders and activists, accused of spreading false news and going against national integrity. The arrests were described as irregular by the population in a context of growing repression in the country.
At least 57 people were detained in their homes during a night raid carried out by the National Police in the different municipalities of Nicaragua, as reported by the organization Blue and White Monitoring.
Subsequently, more than half of them were released but forced to accept a house-to-prison regime. They must appear periodically in a police station or before a judge.
Most of the detainees were journalists, activists, opponents and human rights defenders. For example, there are journalists William Aragón and Óscar Vallecillo, according to a list released by the digital portal Despacho 505.
There are also the peasant leaders Octavio Ortega and Teresa Mena; Maricruz Bermúdez, mother of one of the young people murdered in the context of the protests that broke out in Nicaragua 5 years ago; opposition lawyer Daniela Argüello Cano; and the human rights activist Harold Antonio González.
According to lawyer Yonarqui Martínez, an opponent defender, the detainees were charged with the crimes of conspiracy against national integrity and propagation of false news, considered “treason.”
Irregularities in arrests
The raid took place on the night of Wednesday to Thursday and was denounced as political by the families of the detainees and human rights organizations.
According to Martínez, the police officers showed most of the detainees posts on their social networks thanks to which they accused them of conspiracy and propagation of false news.
Martínez received more than a dozen complaints of those arrests since multiple irregularities were reported.
“That the detainees were transferred in the early hours of the morning before a judge and a massive hearing was held is something that we have never seen in the history of Nicaragua,” explained the lawyer.
The detainees were also unable to rely on a lawyer of their choice.
They were “falsely accused, they were denied the right to a defense, (they were) removed from a natural judge,” he denounced.
“It is a complete legal aberration,” added Martínez, who stressed that he observed that “they have not been released,” but rather enjoy a “precautionary measure of periodic presentation.”
Growing repression by Ortega
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, when thousands of Nicaraguans came out to protest against controversial social security reforms and later calling for the resignation of President Ortega. At this time, the Government responded with force. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), at least 355 people died.
From November 7, 2021 and the re-election of Ortega for a fifth term, together with his wife as vice president, the human rights situation has worsened in the country. The president often sends his opponents to jail or exile and massively closed down the NGOs implemented in the country, among various other measures.
In March, the Group of Experts on Human Rights in Nicaragua (GHREN) detailed the government’s actions since the massive protests of 2018 and accused it of “crimes against humanity.”
“These crimes have been committed for political reasons and continue to be committed today. The entire state apparatus has been turned into a weapon of persecution against the population,” said the head of the investigative team, Jan Simon.
with EFE
#Daniel #Ortega #attacks #opposition #detains #people #Nicaragua