the peasant leaders Medardo Mairena, Pedro Mena and Freddy Navas; Together with the student leaders Lesther Alemán and Max Jerez, they have been illegally detained today, May 5, for ten months in the cells of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, known as “El Nuevo Chipote.”
During this time in captivity they have been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, this has caused a constant and severe deterioration in their physical health, according to complaints from their relatives.
Related news: Peasant leaders serve nine months in prison in “El Chipote”
«Today Lesther (Alemán), Max (Jerez), Don Medardo (Mairena), Don Pedro (Mena) and Don Freddy (Navas) are unjustly imprisoned for 10 months, sentenced for crimes they have not committed, freedom will come for them because they are innocent and for our country #SOSNicaragua that has suffered so much,” wrote the member of the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN), Dolly Mora, on her Twitter social network account.
The five political prisoners were arrested on July 5, 2021, a few months before the presidential elections in November, in a day of hunting opponents that included seven presidential candidates who would try to snatch the Presidency from the dictator Daniel Ortega from the polls.
The three peasant leaders were violently detained in their homes and this is the second time they have been imprisoned by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. In 2018, they were charged with alleged terrorism and Mairena was sentenced to 216 years in prison. On this occasion they were accused of “conspiring to undermine national integrity.”
Peasant and student leaders faced trials for “treason against the fatherland.” Mairena was sentenced to 13 years in prison, Navas and Mena to 10 in prison each. Max Jerez and Lesther Aleman were each sentenced to 13 years behind bars.
After 10 months of confinement in the cells of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, the political prisoner Lesther Alemán looks increasingly deteriorated in health, according to his relatives. In an interview for the program Esta Noche, the mother of the young opponent commented that on the last visit she was able to verify that the problem with his leg persists and the authorities refuse to provide him with medical attention.
The relatives of the prisoners of conscience and the Peasant Movement denounced that the three have lost weight and continue to be the object of constant interrogations, poor nutrition and psychological abuse. The leaders have been a critical voice against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in the face of the siege and violations of rights suffered by peasants in the country.
