Nicaragua has revoked the nationality and confiscated the property of a new group of former political prisoners, a total of 135 people who were sent last week to Guatemala through the mediation of the United States, in a practice already used previously and which the UN rejects.
The measure was announced Tuesday by the judiciary, which is accused of being at the service of the government of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, who has increased repression against its critics since the 2018 protests, according to the UN.
A court in Managua ordered the “loss of Nicaraguan nationality of 135 people convicted of criminal acts that undermined the sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Nicaraguan people and ordered the confiscation of all the assets of the convicted persons,” according to a statement.
With this decision, 452 Nicaraguan opponents have been deprived of their nationality since the beginning of 2023.
A team of Argentine and Nicaraguan lawyers has launched an unprecedented legal action in Latin America: to prosecute under international jurisdiction “criminals against humanity,” specifically dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, along with their main accomplices in the commission of these crimes against the people of Nicaragua.
Although the Managua regime tries to ignore and disregard international justice, a human rights and criminal law expert who filed the complaint maintains that Argentina has the power to prosecute Nicaraguan tyrants and details the accusation.
Darío Richarte, an Argentine jurist, expert in criminal law and human rights and professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the one who is promoting the accusation before the Justice of his country against Ortega, Murillo and their accomplices.
In a recently published analysis, he asserts that the Argentine federal judicial system can investigate and prosecute Nicaraguan tyrants “based on the principle of universal jurisdiction.”
The complaint includes “each of those responsible for the state, police, military and paramilitary structure, for crimes against humanity, perpetrated through the following acts: murder, imprisonment, serious deprivation of liberty, forced disappearance of persons, torture, deportation or forced transfer of population and persecution of a group or collectivity with its own identity based on political or religious motives.”
Related news: Argentine justice has received seven extensions in the case against Ortega and Murillo for crimes against humanity
The complaint is made up of seven extensions, filed between November 15, 2022, and February 2, 2024. It includes loss of nationality, confiscations, and de facto banishment.
Brazil has joined a group of eight countries that will file a complaint with the United Nations over human rights abuses in Nicaragua under the regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, who have been repeatedly accused by human rights organizations of committing crimes against humanity.
The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will join a joint declaration with Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, accusing the Nicaraguan government of torture, forced disappearance and repression against opponents, religious leaders and students.
Brazil has radically changed its position in response to accusations against the Ortega government in Nicaragua, which it had preferred to remain silent on; however, this is the result of increased tensions between the two leftist governments.
