Human rights organizations in Nicaragua denounced a new “repressive tactic” by the government of Daniel Ortega against opponents, which consists of the “perpetual loss of their citizen rights” through a judge’s sentence. The measure, among other things, makes it impossible for a person to hold public office for life.
So far the measure has been issued against some 14 people, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), an NGO outlawed in 2018 in the country. Among them is a peasant leader, critical of Ortega, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the alleged crimes of “conspiracy” and issuing “false news,” and later a group of religious was accused who were also convicted on the same charges.
According to Cenidh, this action is “the latest outrage” of the Nicaraguan justice system since, in its opinion, the judicial system itself is being violated because “it is committing crimes with impunity by violating what the laws say.”
Lawyer Yader Morazán, a former official of the Judiciary, told the voice of america that this sanction is not exhaustively established in the Law, therefore it indicates that it is “illegal”.
“The law is based on what we call the principle of legality. What does this mean? That for something to be considered a sanction, it must be previously established in the law in an exhaustive manner. What does not exist in the law, does not exist as a penalty and, therefore, penalties would be imposed illegally because they do not exist,” Morazán commented.
On the other hand, he explained that disqualifying someone from holding public office is clear from the crimes against the public administration of people who abused their position and committed crimes that is not the case.
The Prosecutor’s Office, which has requested the sentences against the opponents, has argued in most cases that the people arrested and prosecuted have tried to cause damage to the State of Nicaragua and have issued false news.
Uriel Pineda, an expert lawyer in constitutional law, adds to the VOA that this measure of the judges in Nicaragua “is a violation of the hard core of Human Rights.”
“In other words, there are Human Rights that must be protected at all times and in all circumstances, even in war,” he concludes. “Imposing a sanction that is not contemplated in the legal system, more than violating Human Rights is the denial of the most elementary principles of civility.”
It maintains that “the Ortega-Murillo regime” is aware of this and that what it seeks is to send a message to its operators and to the relatives of political prisoners “that they can do whatever they please in the face of the ineffectiveness of international instances.” .
Morazán, for his part, comments that when “accessory” penalties are imposed on “judged” people, they cannot be more temporary than the main one because they have no legal meaning.
“The judge who imposes this would be prevaricating because he would be resolving against the express Law since the Law establishes that they correspond only to those established by the penal code and these cannot exceed what is established in that legal norm,” he points out.
With this new measure of the Nicaraguan judicial system, political prisoners who are subjected to this sanction will not be able to exercise civil rights, such as running for public office.
In this sense, Pineda indicates that imposing this restriction violates the Nicaraguan Constitution itself, which is even subject to the general restrictions of Human Rights. “Naturally, suspending them without there being a legal basis for it, is an open violation of Human Rights.”
“A person who holds the position of prosecutor or judge, cannot claim that they are unaware that a non-existent sentence cannot be imposed in the legal system. They operate consciously in the violation of Human Rights and the commission of Crimes against Humanity”, Pineda concluded.
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