The Argentine justice opened a criminal investigation into Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario María Murillo to determine if they are responsible for crimes against humanity.
The decision was made the day before by the Argentine federal judge Ariel Lijo at the request of a complaint filed by two lawyers and the request of the prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, who considers that the Argentine federal justice is empowered to investigate human rights violations that occurred in another country, since the national Constitution recognizes the principle of universal jurisdiction.
As a first measure, the judge ordered the sending of a warrant to the Nicaraguan justice system to report whether there are open cases on alleged illegal detentions and disappearance of people, a judicial official familiar with the case and who requested anonymity told The Associated Press on Thursday. because the investigation is at a preliminary stage.
In the past, Argentine justice has done something similar, by opening a case for crimes reported in a period that encompasses the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the Francisco Franco regime and the two years that elapsed between the dictator’s death in 1975 and the celebration of the first democratic elections.
For this case, which dates back to 2010, a Buenos Aires court recently annulled the prosecution issued by a judge to a former Spanish official who had agreed to testify before the magistrate by videoconference.
The Argentine justice also authorized an investigation in 2021 for the allegations of repression against the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
In the current case and in his request to the judge to give the green light to the investigation, the Argentine prosecutor targeted Ortega and his wife, as well as “those within the state or para-state structure” who may be responsible for the dictation and execution of orders to exercise persecution “for political and/or religious reasons.”
Lately, the Ortega government has intensified the persecution of its political opponents and is accusing their relatives through criminal channels, according to human rights organizations.
Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the Central American country in the repression following the massive protests of April 2018 and have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.
The Argentine judicial measure is in response to the complaint filed in the Lijo court by the lawyers Darío Richarte and Diego Pirota, following the arrest of the bishop of Matagalpa Rolando Álvarez, who is under house arrest without knowing details about his status. of health.
The complaint indicated that the situation of the religious occurs in a context of systematic attack against the civilian population and mentions investigations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, the Center for Legal and Social Studies and the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights that point to the excesses of the Ortega government.
According to Taiano, the justice of his country can open the case to the Nicaraguan government for international commitments that “establish the duty of domestic courts to investigate on behalf of the international community regardless of the place where they have arisen (according to the sixth paragraph of the preamble of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court).
On the other hand, indicated the prosecutor, the International Criminal Court could not try these crimes, since Nicaragua has not ratified the Rome Statute.
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