The statement of the Prosecutor’s Office, in which he assured that requested the definitive suspension of the trial against the retired general Hugo Torres, a political prisoner of the Daniel Ortega regime, for “humanitarian reasons” due to his worsening health, is a vain attempt to “clean the face” of a system characterized by its cruelty to prisoners of war. conscience, said jurists consulted.
Yader Morazán, a specialist in the administration of justice, accused the Public Ministry of lying, because when reviewing the Nicarao electronic system—used by lawyers to monitor the progress of the files—there is no trace of the alleged request to the court made by that institution. , which leads the lawyers to consider that General Torres died “with an open cause”, led by Judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón, of the Fifth District Criminal Court of Judgment. The Prosecutor who filed the accusation was Andrea Salas.
The #Attorney of Nic. #lie again through its communication 002-2022. Yesterday they stated that “for humanitarian reasons they requested the suspension of the trial” against #HugoTorres, but there is not a single writing in its favor. I operated that system for years and there is no way to hide it: pic.twitter.com/69QhNjSEmB
– Yader Morazán ?? (@YaderMorazan) February 13, 2022
“The conclusion is that (in the Prosecutor’s Office) they feel a great responsibility and in the face of public scrutiny the reaction is to try to wash their hands of a lie that could be sustained for 24 hours,” said Morazán, who explained that this is one more example of that justice in Nicaragua lost its credibility long ago.
The leadership of the Unión Renovadora Democrática (UNAMOS), the party in which Torres was vice president until his tragic end, demanded a independent investigation due to the lack of credibility of the dictatorshipand access to the country by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OACNUDH), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Tower’s death a hero of the fight against somocismo that he had been imprisoned since last year on the orders of Ortega, was informed on Saturday, February 12 at 1:33 in the afternoon by the Presidency, which sent the pronouncement of the Public Ministry. However, Luis Carrión, leader of UNAMOS, maintained that they had information that the death occurred on Friday at 10 p.m., which means that the Government did not report the news for at least 15 hours.
“The Judiciary entered a phase of radicalization after the protests in 2018, I think they do it in order to compromise these (judicial) authorities and for the Ortega Murillo family to guarantee their fidelity. By entangling them, they make them part of that criminal cell they lead,” Morazán explained.
Torres is the second political prisoner to die while in the custody of the authorities. For more than two months, human rights organizations asked about his whereabouts, information that the State handled hermetically. The first deceased was Eddy Montes, who was killed by a prison officer in 2019.
History of cruelty to prisoners
However, there have been other cases of judicial cruelty. Yonarqui Martínez, a defender of political prisoners, mentioned on her Twitter account the story of Eliseo de Jesús Castro, 60, who is hospitalized in Managua and suffered a stroke as a result of blows received at the time of capture, more missing of medical care.
“Public Ministry rule on the case of Elisha de Jesus Castro, stroke victim hope to deliver him to his family in a box. So expeditious in his pronouncement that they should avoid deaths, not add them,” added Martínez on February 12.
What’s more: Vilma Núñez: Judges are “actors aware of crimes” against political prisoners
Eliseo de Jesús Castro, 60 years old, as a result of blows at the time of his capture plus lack of medical attention, caused him a stroke, hospitalized in the Lenin Fonseca. Who is the culprit? pic.twitter.com/QN2FYMDSyh
– Yonarqui Martinez (@YonarquiM) February 13, 2022
The lawyer also mentioned just rodriguezformer political prisoner from Ometepe who left the hospital paraplegic in 2020 where he was transferred from the Modelo prison and handed over to his family in terrible conditions.
For the criminal lawyer Boanerges Fornos, a former departmental prosecutor, what happened with General Torres is a puncture to the bad performance of the institutions of the justice system, which do not ensure the rights and guarantees of due process.
According to recent research from CONFIDENTIAL, at least 15 officials, including judges, prosecutors and police officers, carry out the orders issued from El Carmen against the political prisoners. The common feature of all is their loyalty to the ruling party and they would be committing crime of malfeasance and the crime against humanity of tortureaccording to analysts consulted.
“In principle they have not behaved transparently (judges, prosecutors, forensic doctors), because the correct thing is that I must assume that the defense requested that they do the medical assessment and determine what corresponds. These officials do not attend to legal procedures and simply attend to political-partisan orientations that come from the Executive Branch,” Fornos said, referring to the authorities.
Fornos added that in the particular case of Torres it is shown that the authorities do not respect the rights of the defendants, because they should have verified from the beginning that Torres’ situation was very delicate and he could not be under a prison regime.
In addition, Fornos considers that what happened is also an alarm signal for the fate of the other 170 political prisoners in Nicaragua, including the last 46 who were detained since the end of May last year and who were victims of the repressive escalation. with which Ortega eliminated electoral competition to ensure a fourth consecutive term by imprisoning the political, economic and social leaders of the country.
More than 100 relatives have sued the immediate release of all political prisoners, but the Ortega and Murillo regime has ignored the request, backed by the international community. Rather, the ruler has called the political prisoners “sons of bitches of imperialism.”
