The Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance in Human Rights (Calidh) alerted of the disappearance of the Italian friar Damián Muratori, whose whereabouts are unknown after appearing for an appointment at the General Directorate of Migration and Aliens (DGME) in Managua, yesterday, December 13. February.
“The religious was summoned by the Nicaraguan Migration, he left San Rafael del Norte early yesterday morning with two laymen and there is no news from them,” the agency denounced in its Twitter account. Twitter. It is presumed that the priest Muratori may be being held by the immigration authorities and at risk of being expelled from Nicaragua.
“Where is Fray Damián Muratori?” questioned Calidh, who demands that the Nicaraguan authorities, along with the two laymen, “appear alive and free.”
Related news: Fray Damián Muratori is missing after showing up for an appointment at Immigration in Managua
On the night of February 12, Migration officials arrived at the priest’s home to give him an appointment to appear the next day at the DGME offices in the capital.
The priest left very early for his appointment, but until now his whereabouts and situation are unknown. Muratori’s possible retention occurred after the religious spoke out for the imprisonment of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez.
The religious cataloged the imprisonment of Monsignor Álvarez, sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison by the Ortega justice, as “a historical fact.”
“I was on the list of those who had to go to the United States. Did Monsignor Álvarez leave? Why didn’t he leave? Because he didn’t want to! In the end, 222 people caught the plane and one didn’t catch it. Was Monsignor Álvarez right? He stayed and to me, a real man in pants. They put me in prison, put me in prison,” said Fray Damián Muratori in his Sunday homily at the El Tepeyac Franciscan Sanctuary, in Jinotega.
The priest, belonging to the Franciscan order, in addition to being in charge of the religious temple of San Rafael del Norte, which has been elevated to a Sanctuary, is vice postulator for the cause of beatification of the Servant of God Odorico D’Andrea, known as the evangelizer from the mountains of Jinotega.
In 2021, Muratori denounced that the migration authorities stripped him of his Nicaraguan residence, with more than 40 years of living in the country and they were renewing his stay in Nicaragua every 90 days.
