The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) stated that the more than 30 political prisoners held in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, known as “El Nuevo Chipote”, in Managua, continue to be victims of cruel and inhuman treatment.
Among the hostile situations that the human rights organization pointed out is the prohibition to speak when the conscientious hostages go to sunbathe for 10 minutes or attend medical consultations at the compound’s clinic.
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“The Ortega Murillo regime is conditioning the body language of the political prisoners in El Chipote; Wherever they go, they always have their hands handcuffed, they go with their heads down, without permission to say a single word,” Cenidh denounced through his Twitter account.
The organization points out that the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega wants to “turn them off and erase the minds” of the current political prisoners, most of whom have already been convicted of alleged “treason against the country.”
Article 66 consulted relatives of political prisoners to learn more about this situation, who expressed ignorance of the facts, but who do not rule out that Ortega’s justice system is using these mechanisms considered torture.
«What I saw in the trial that every time they got up to go to the bathroom they automatically put their hands behind their backs. The first day I told him not to walk straight and with his hands free. The policemen told them to go to the bathroom with their heads down too,” denounced a relative of an opponent locked up in “El Chipote.”
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He also stated that when the hostages of conscience were taken from their cells to take them to trial, they were accompanied by police agents, who lowered their heads and kept them handcuffed.
Another family member emphasized that after the legal proceedings, the police authorities “became tougher.” “These actions are to humiliate them and make them mentally submissive, however they are full of mental and spiritual strength,” said a relative of one of the political hostages.
“Everything can be expected from the dictatorship”
For his part, Alfredo Mairena, brother of the peasant leader Medardo Mairena, said that he does not know “if that is true, but I do not rule it out, I know that even if they are convicted and sentenced they are still being interrogated, and that the case of Medardo and Pedro, who are in the same accusation has not even been seen in there —in “El Nuevo Chipote”—.
«The dictatorship continues to be cruel to human rights, they are torturing them because that is torture, apart from the psychological torture that they are interrogated every day. I believe that not even a criminal should be treated like this, prisons are supposed to be reformatories and not for torture,” Mairena stressed.
The relatives of the political hostages consulted expressed that the Ortega dictatorship must cease the repression against opponents and must release them immediately, “because they are innocent.”
To date, Ortega justice holds more than 177 prisoners captive, 35 of them are in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Managua. Their families have reported that many of them have medical complications.
