SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The Daniel Ortega’s regime announced on Tuesday the revocation of the nationality and confiscation of the assets of 135 opponents who were expelled from the country last week after serving prison sentences for their political dissidence.
The decision was announced in a press release from the Supreme Court of Justice, which said that those released were convicted “for criminal acts that attacked the sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Nicaraguan people, inciting and promoting violence, hatred, terrorism and economic destabilization, altering peace, security and constitutional order,” the agency reported. EFE.
The punishment for their opposition to the regime, announced by the judiciary, which according to human rights activists is under the control of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, also includes the confiscation of all property of former political prisoners expelled to Guatemala.
The ruling brings to 451 the number of exiled opponents who have been stripped of their citizenship since the beginning of 2023, according to a count by AFP based on official data.
The announcement came as The United Nations warned that the new law approved by the dictator could lead to even greater repression of opponents of Daniel Ortega.
Under the law, which went into effect last week, Nicaraguans could face up to 30 years in prison and confiscation of property for acts such as “cybercrimes” and “offenses against the State or institutions.”
“These reforms could be used to intensify persecution and repression against Nicaraguans, including those in exile,” said Christian Salazar Volkmann of the Geneva-based UN human rights office (OHCHR).
Ortega’s mass release of prisoners on September 5 followed a similar operation in February 2023 involving more than 200 prisoners, who were flown to the United States.
Among those released from prison, exiled to Guatemala, are the visual artists Kevin Laguna and Oscar Danilo Parrilla, whose artistic names are Vink Art and Torch Místico, arrested in November 2023 while painting an artistic mural in honor of the then newly crowned Miss Universe 2023, the Nicaraguan Sheynnis Palacios.
Legislative reform for greater repression
The reform of the Penal Code, ordered by Ortega at the end of August, seeks to be able to prosecute exiled Nicaraguans and foreigners.
Opponents both inside and outside the country can be sentenced to up to life imprisonment, international media reported.
The penalties also include the confiscation of assets and are classified as crimes that Ortega and Rosario Murillo usually use to criminalize their adversaries: money laundering, terrorism, cybercrime and crimes against public administration.
“This reform not only seeks to expand the regime’s ability to persecute opponents within Nicaragua, but also extends its reach beyond national borders, becoming a weapon of transnational repression,” said denationalized opposition leader Félix Maradiaga, Cited by Infobae.
The amendment, which changes 27 articles of Law 641 of the Penal Code, was sent by Ortega to the Justice and Legal Affairs Commission of the National Assembly, controlled by the presidential couple.
The most significant change concerns Article 16, which now establishes that Nicaraguan criminal laws will be applicable to Nicaraguans or foreigners who, while outside the national territory, have committed the aforementioned crimes.
