The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) “thanked” this Monday the protection measures taken by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in favor of Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, general manager of the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa, who was sentenced in last March to 9 years in prison and to pay an economic fine.
In a statement, the president of the IAPA, Jorge Canahuati, and the president of the entity’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, stated that “the action of the IACHR is very important to denounce the cruel and inhuman treatment of the Daniel Ortega regime against prisoners of conscience sentenced without due process of law.”
On September 29, the IACHR approved a resolution that grants precautionary measures to Holmann Chamorro and his family nucleus, considering their situation “of serious and urgent risk of irreparable damage to their rights,” the IAPA statement indicates. .
Holmann Chamorro, considered a “political prisoner” of the Government of Daniel Ortega by humanitarian organizations, has been imprisoned since August 14, 2021 and the sentence of the Second Criminal District Court of Managua also disqualified him from exercising his profession, trade or position, while it lasts.
Related news: IACHR grants precautionary measures to Juan Lorenzo Holmann, political prisoner of Ortega
According to the statement, the IACHR requested information from the Government of Nicaragua about the “inadequate conditions and lack of necessary, timely and adequate medical attention to attend to the health” of Holmann Chamorro.
The journalist’s daughter, Renata Holmann, will present her testimony on the prison conditions of her father and other prisoners during the next General Assembly of the IAPA, to be held from 27 to 30 this month in Madrid (Spain).
In the same statement, Canahuati, CEO of Grupo Opsa of Honduras, and Jornet, journalistic director of La Voz del Interior de Argentina, also demanded the release of other journalists whose families have denounced “the deplorable prison conditions and the deterioration of health ”.
They are the communicators Miguel Mora and Miguel Mendoza, sentenced to 13 and 9 years in prison, respectively.
Likewise, the directors of the regional body, which is based in Miami, Florida (USA), “insisted” on the annulment of the convictions of Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, members of the board of directors of La Prensa, and of the journalist Jaime Arellano, who are serving their sentences of 8, 9 and 13 years respectively, in house arrest.
La Prensa circulates in digital format due to the retention of its paper since the day before Holmann Chamorro’s arrest.
