Lawyers Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz and Yonarqui Martínez criticized the pardons executed this Friday, March 31, by the Ministry of the Interior, at the service of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. In total there were 2,500 common prisoners who were sent to the “family coexistence” regime on the occasion of Holy Week.
Ramírez-Ayérdiz assured that in Nicaragua “there is no order in prison policy”, in reference to the release ordered by the Ortega Murillo regime, the second this year, the first was on the occasion of Women’s Day, at the beginning of March .
«In Nicaragua there is no order in prison policy. People are released without analyzing whether they are really prepared to live in society again. The government is responsible for all crimes, including the femicides of these pardoned,” wrote the executive secretary of the Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance for Human Rights (Calidh).
Related news: Murillo will send 2,500 common prisoners to family life, but does not release 37 political prisoners
Martínez stated that this type of measures taken by the dictatorship has come to affect Nicaraguan society because there is an increase in crime; greater number of victims and the indices of perception of citizen security have decreased.
«There is no correct application of the procedure established by the Law. The Law says which are the crimes for which a benefit can be given to a prisoner, the circumstances in which it can be given and what is the time (completed of the sentence) that the prisoner must have to be able to access this benefit, “he explained.
“People who do not meet those requirements that the Law establishes are leaving. Unfortunately, it is an open secret that they are carrying out at the discretion of the Ministry of the Interior in collusion with the execution judges,” he added.
The lawyer explained that it is “almost impossible” that in less than a year almost 4,000 people will meet the requirements established by law to be pardoned. She pointed out that “it is a barbarity of people who have left and have reoffended (in crimes), they are not ready to leave.”
He stated that there is a history of femicides, robbery, atrocious murders and parricide committed by some of the people who have benefited from this measure of family coexistence.
«I think that the corresponding channels must be exhausted, comply with the requirements that the same law indicates to us and not take it as a gift, it is a right. It must be done in an orderly fashion, analyzing whether the people leaving are going to reintegrate into society without undermining the rights of other citizens. It is not that I do not agree (with this benefit) to reintegrate the population, but care must be taken not to risk the security of Nicaraguan citizens, “he concluded.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Nicaraguan government released 38,540 prisoners from prison, for an annual average of 4,282 parole orders decreed directly by the Executive.
The release of common prisoners before serving their sentences has been criticized by feminist organizations, such as the Women’s Network against Violence, arguing that behind these benefits there is an increase in femicides and crime in general in Nicaragua.
