42 opponents, who are over 60 years old, remain imprisoned in different Nicaraguan prisons and others under house arrest by order of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The dictatorship has deprived them of their freedom for demonstrating or giving statements denouncing the abuses and violations of human rights that the administration on duty has perpetrated.
according to the most recent report of the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, as of January 31, there were 245 prisoners of conscience, including 42 citizens between the ages of 60 and 80.
“Of the group of 10 political prisoners prior to 2018, there are two people over 60 years of age,” the report reads, reflecting that in the last four years the dictatorship imprisoned 40 senior citizens.
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Most of the people on the list of older inmates have various health problems, need medical attention and their medications; Some would even have a special diet due to complications in their physical condition such as malnutrition and intestinal disorders due to the type of food they receive.
The dictatorship has been merciless to diminish the health of the older opposition adults that it has detained. Their relatives continually demand their immediate release so that they receive the necessary attention in their homes.
Of the political prisoners over 60 years of age, the Ortega regime has sent opponents Arturo Cruz, José Pallais, Edgard Parrales, Mauricio Díaz, Víctor Hugo Tinoco and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios to “home detention” with police custody.
The former chancellor Francisco Aguirre Sacasa78 years old, had also been sent home, however at the beginning of November 2022 it was learned that the Ortega dictatorship imprisoned him again in the cells of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ), known as “El Chipote” .
The oldest prisoner of conscience is the political analyst and former ambassador Edgar Parrales, with 80 years. The list of imprisoned opponents over 60 years of age is joined by the activist Violet Granera Padilla, with 71 years; the electoral expert Harry Chavez, 65 years old; the opponent Irving Larios, 61 years old; the territorial leader orlando fields 71 years old; the Economist Oscar Rene Vargas76 years old, the opposition Nidia Barbosaamong others.
What does the Law say?
Law 720, the Senior Adult Law, and the Criminal Procedure Code (CPP) protect people aged 60 and over. According to the laws of the Republic, they should be benefited from the house by jail or house arrest regime when the judicial process is carried out or when there is a final sentence.
Subsection 13 of Law 720, Older Adult Law indicates that those over 60 years of age are guaranteed before the competent judges or courts “a simple process, with priority, speed, free of charge and immediacy, with due procedural guarantees, which protects them against acts that violate or may violate their rights rights and fundamental freedoms”.
The Nicaraguan Criminal Procedure Code (CPP) explains that the substitution of preventive detention for home detention must be decided by the judge hearing the case, but these respond to the interests of the dictatorial couple.
«The judge can replace pre-trial detention with house arrest, among other cases, in the case of: Women in the last three months of pregnancy; mothers during the lactation of their children up to six months after birth or valetudinary people or affected by a duly verified terminal illness “, details the regulations.
