The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua reported that the number of prisoners of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo remains at 190 until June 30, 2022. «In the month of June no people were added to the list”, emphasizes the report.
Of the total number of captive opponents in the different prisons and jails in the country, 180 were arrested after the protests of April 2018, and 10 have been imprisoned since before the citizen revolt.
The document indicates that of the 180 opponents detained in the context of April 2018 to date “51 Nicaraguans are being held in separate cells.”
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“Of the people in isolation, four political prisoners are in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ) and one political prisoner in the Matagalpa Penitentiary System (SPN). In the punishment cell there are six in the DAJ, one in SPN (National Penitentiary System) Chinandega, one in SPN Matagalpa and two in SPN La Modelo. Additional of the people in maximum security, 18 are in the DAJ and 18 in the SPN La Modelo, “says the monthly report on Ortega’s political prisoners.
To date, in Nicaragua there are 172 men and 18 women political prisoners at the hands of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Ortega regime “ignores” the precautionary measures of the IACHR
The organization also pointed out that the administration of Daniel Ortega persists in not complying with the precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to 44 of the 76 political prisoners benefited by these measures.
“Of this group of 44 people, 2 are women and 42 men who are confined in centers of the national prison system (SPN). They have been in prison for between 18 months and 4 years, being subjected to a series of violations of their human rights and judicial guarantees”, he highlighted.
“The IACHR expressed its alarm at the acts of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of which the beneficiaries are victims. This, despite the multiple calls that the Commission has made to the regime, to which they express that “the responses have not been effective, there are no responses from the (judicial) system in matters as essential as the issue of people’s lives. (political prisoners) », reads the document.
Political prisoners subjected to torture
The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners highlighted that ill-treatment continues towards captive opponents in the different prisons of Nicaragua, which consist of the torture of silence and beatings as well as transfers to maximum security cells.
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In the case of the political prisoners locked up in the torture cells of “El Chipote” “they are under extreme isolation and incommunicado. In addition to not having any contact with the outside world and not having regular family visits, the guards prevent them from talking to each other,” he reiterated.
«The level of control and torture reaches the point that they are subjected to scolding or other types of punishment if they have any type of conversation between those who are cellmates. (…) It should be noted that the Mechanism also recorded that the Chipote guards do not allow expressions of worship by political prisoners. They are forbidden to sing praises or pray loudly,” he added.
The organism also registered during the month of June, the transfer of a prisoner of conscience to maximum security cells in the penitentiary center known as “La Modelo”. In addition, he reported at least four beatings of four political prisoners held in the maximum security cells of “La Modelo” and of a prisoner in the SPN of Matagalpa.
“These transfers are not usually justified by the regulations of the penitentiary system, but are used arbitrarily and discretionally to punish political prisoners,” he said.
The list of political prisoners in Nicaragua is compiled by the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, made up of human rights organizations, family members of political prisoners and released prisoners, lawyers and defense attorneys for political prisoners, as well as spaces of documentation and networks of territorial and digital activists.
