Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship keeps Marisela de Fátima Mejía Ruiz, a member of Puerta de la Montaña, who was barely two months after giving birth and is also the mother of a two-year-old girl, reveals the resolution of precautionary measures of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The organization points out that the woman “would not be receiving post-natal care or adequate nutrition” as she is confined in the Comprehensive Women’s Penitentiary Establishment (EPIM), known as La Esperanza.
Mejía Ruiz was arrested on December 16, 2023 and is the wife of Walner Omier Blandón Ochoa, other of those accused and convicted of alleged money laundering, property and assets. They were sentenced to between 12 and 15 years in prison and a financial fine of around 880 million dollars.
Related news: IACHR grants precautionary measures to 11 members of the Puerta de la Montaña Church, imprisoned by the Sandinista regime
«To date, she would still be breastfeeding, which would have been interrupted by her arrest. Likewise, the relationship with his two-year-old first daughter would have been interrupted. “The prison officials would not allow her to see his children during her stay in prison,” the regional organization denounced.
The testimonies received by the IACHR point out that political prisoners are under “even more deplorable and unhealthy conditions, the persistence of acts of mistreatment, isolation, incommunication, constant interrogations, lack of adequate and sufficient food, as well as lack of access to timely, adequate and specialized medical care.” ».
Violation of Bangkok Rules
The feminist and denationalized activist, Alexa Zamora, assured that in this case the dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo violates rule 48 of the Bangkok Rules of the United Nations (UN), which establishes the treatment that pregnant and lactating women should receive. who are deprived of liberty.
Zamora recalled that incidents of violation of this norm have already been reported previously, in the case of political prisoners with underage sons or daughters, such as the cases of Tamara Dávila and Suyen Barahona.
«It is terrible how the regime violates human rights and criminalizes with impunity anyone it decides. Of particular concern is the way in which women political prisoners are violated in this situation of arbitrary and illegal detention, and worse in their capacity as mothers,” she signed.
What do national laws say?
Article 33 of Law No. 473, Law of the penitentiary regime and execution of the sentence, establishes that “penitentiary centers, within their facilities, will try to have special environments or units for the care of those deprived of liberty who are in the pre- and post-natal stage.
The same article explains that in cases where the penitentiary center does not have special facilities for the pre- and post-natal period, those deprived of liberty must be placed under the regime of family coexistence until the boy or girl is six months old. suitable age for breastfeeding.
