The Nicaragua Human Rights Collective Nunca Más condemned the recent arrest against the father Jaime Ivan Montesinos Sauceda, 61 years old, parish priest of the San Juan Pablo Segundo church, in Villa Chagüitillo, in the municipality of Sébaco, in the Diocese of Matagalpa.
Through a statement, the organization pointed out that the police “investigation” to accuse the religious of acts that undermine the sovereignty of the country, “is part of the persecution against the Catholic Church and the criminalization of priests.”
Related news: “Cowardly act of the dictatorship”, opponents describe the arrest of Father Jaime Montesinos
He emphasized that due to the onslaught of the Ortega dictatorship, many priests and laity have had to move “forcibly out of Nicaragua.”
He also recalled that the previous days the priests were detained and sent to house arrest Pastor Eugenio Rodriguez Benavides, head of the Divina Providencia Parish, of Jalapa, and Leonardo Guevara Gutierrez, parish priest of the Cathedral of Estelí, “who join the list of religious deprived of liberty such as Bishop Rolando Álvarez and the priests Leonardo Urbina and Manuel García.”
“We condemn the repressive day and persecution against the population, particularly priests, in a state of emergency executed by the Police that violates human rights, including religious freedom,” said the Human Rights Collective.
Opponents and civil society organizations join the demand of human rights defenders who demand an end to the harassment and religious persecution.
Related news: Ortega police kidnap priest Jaime Montesinos and accuse him of “impairment”
Regarding the arrest of Father Montesinos, in press release number 009-2023, dated Thursday, May 25, the police institution accused the elderly religious of “committing acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the nation”, the same crime for which he has accused other priests and opponents.
With this arrest, the Ortega regime raises the number of kidnapped religious to four. Besides the priests Pastor Eugenio Rodriguez Benavides and Leonardo Guevara Gutierrez, those he captured, transferred them to Managua and subjected them to an “investigation” for the management of the extinct Caritas, but then released “under investigation”.
