Different organizations and members of the Nicaraguan opposition denounced on social networks that the student leader Jasson Salazar Rugama and the publicist Anielka Lucía García Zapata their birthdays passed number 28 arbitrarily detained in the prisons of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Through his X official accountthe economist and political prisoner Juan Sebastian Chamorro He dedicated a message of congratulations and encouragement to the imprisoned opposition leader. «Dear Jasson: May this birthday find you strong and firm, as you have always been. You will be free soon and we will continue in this fight until we achieve freedom and forge democracy,” he said.
Related news: Young opponents consider that university student Jasson Salazar is imprisoned for his “thought, freedom and youth”
Likewise, the April 19 University Movement (MU19A), where Salazar served as vice president, declared that this April 22, “on his birthday, we raise our voices to celebrate his life, bravery and resistance. “We want your day, Jasson, to be filled with hope and strength as we continue to fight for your freedom.”
The political movement KEEP IT UP He stated that the reason why the opponent was arbitrarily imprisoned was “to raise his voice against the repressive policies of the Sandinista dictatorship.” “He is innocent and is losing the opportunity to contribute to the Nicaragua that we want: Freedom Now!” added the civic organization.
The Union of Nicaraguan Political Prisoners (UPPN) He also joined the complaint and stated, on the same social network, that “one year after his arbitrary detention, Jasson is today celebrating 28 years in the prisons of the dictatorship, far from his family, unjustly detained and convicted of the alleged crime.” of treason to the country. He currently suffers inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment.
Before the Ortega police captured him, Salazar was a law student at the Polytechnic University (UPOLI) in Managua. In addition to being a director of the MU19A, he was also an active member of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, an organization that formed the opposition after the sociopolitical crisis of 2018.
However, Salazar could not continue his fight for democracy in Nicaragua since April 4, 2023, the day police authorities arrested him. For more than 70 days, the Ortega Police prevented the student leader’s relatives from visiting him, knowing his state of health and what condition he was in.
In August 2023, the Sandinista justice system held a trial where Salazar Rugama was found guilty of the alleged crimes of “undermining national integrity” and “propagation of false news”, charges that the Nicaraguan dictatorship uses to condemn its critics.
Prisoner for wearing a shirt alluding to Nicaragua
Like Salazar, this Monday, April 22, Anielka García turned 28 in prison, and democratic groups also demanded her unconditional and immediate freedom from the Sandinista dictatorship.
In the social network Former political inmate and sports journalist Miguel Mendoza indicated that García “receives her second birthday inside the ‘La Esperanza’ Women’s Penitentiary System, where she has been locked up for more than 387 days by orders of the Sandinista dictatorship.”
Related news: Anielka García celebrates one year as Ortega’s political prisoner
«Nicaragua must guarantee respect for the human rights and freedoms of young people and Nicaraguan citizens, no one should be imprisoned for political differences. We demand his release! “Freedom for Anielka García!” said the journalist.
Similarly, the independent media outlet La Mesa Redonda lamented that “one year after his arbitrary detention, (García) turns 28, without being able to hug his family and two children; she was unjustly accused and sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy and three years for false news.
García Zapata was arrested on April 4, 2023 in Chichigalpa, Chinandega, for publishing a photo where she appeared wearing a t-shirt alluding to the April rebellion that she had designed in her screen printing business.
The young woman is the owner of the company ThinkMarketing, confiscated by the dictatorship. He studied Marketing and Advertising at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua) and founded his screen printing business after finishing his studies.
Related news: They demand the release of Anielka García, the young woman imprisoned for painting t-shirts alluding to Nicaragua
Anielka García Zapata is part of a group of 23 political prisoners who remain imprisoned in the prisons of the Nicaraguan dictatorship. Many of them are subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the prison authorities.
As of April 23, 2024, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo keeps imprisoned 138 prisoners of conscience in the different prisons of the country, subjected to “systematic violations of their human rights”, according to data from the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners.