During 2019, the wave of arrests in the city of Masaya he continued on the edge of those who raised their voices against the Ortega and Murillo government. That year began the torment for ten families who have witnessed how the regime deprived their loved ones of their freedom. This 2023, these political prisoners from Masaya will complete four years of confinement, which are synonymous with wasted time in all areas of their lives.
Next March 16, Edward Lacayo Rodriguezoriginally from Monimbó in Masaya, will be four years old since the day he was arrested on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where he intended to go into exile.
Subsequently, he was tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison and 800 fine days for the alleged crime of trafficking narcotics, psychotropics and other controlled substances, and organized crime.
The 48-year-old man participated in the Masaya protests in April 2018 and was called “La Loba Feroz”, who is captive in a maximum security cell of the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as “La Modelo”, in the municipality of Tipitapa.
arbitrariness against political prisoners of Masaya
In the months of June, July and August 2019, police operations intensified in the city and its regions, where they arrested: Mauricio Valencia, Gabriel Ramirez Somarriba, Javier Palacio Hernandez, samuel gonzalez already his nephew Ezequiel de Jesus Gonzalez, 22 years old.
All of them were convicted of the crime of trafficking, manufacturing, possession and use of explosive devices (artisanal bombs) to the detriment of the State of Nicaragua. The Judge Howard Lopez of the Criminal District Court of Masaya Trials was in charge of passing sentence in these five judicial processes considered political by human rights organizations.
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«Gabriel’s case was one of the first cases in which his innocence was clearly indicated, prosecuted in Masaya on several occasions his trial was rescheduled. The legal situation of all these cases is already in its last phase with sentences already confirmed. Legally, follow-up is only given by a request to the execution judge, but they are rarely pronounced. Added to this, the deterioration of health that has intensified in some cases due to lack of care, chronic diseases or risk states. Virtually innocent tortured since their capture, subjecting them to trials that were already outlined, with wear and tear on their physical and mental health as a result of torture by officials,” explained Yonarqui Martínez, lawyer for the prisoner of conscience Gabriel Ramírez and human rights defender.
The political prisoners of Masaya Gabriel Ramirez, ezekiel gonzalez Y Xavier Palace They were sentenced to six years in prison, while Mauricio Valencia Y samuel gonzalez They were sentenced to seven years.
In addition, the judge issued fines between 350 and 450 days that are equivalent to the sum of 21,000 and up to 24,000 córdobas. All have been imprisoned in the Granada Penitentiary System for almost four years since they were deprived of their liberty.
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“The situation we are experiencing is the saddest, because part of us (family) is locked up in that system, we suffered from not being able to do anything or how to get it out, plus he was the one who carried out the work in this house. He has wasted valuable time, part of his life, he worries a lot because he can’t help my mom with work, he is a kid who is unfairly detained for thinking differently. It’s been almost 4 bitter years of suffering, agony, impotence, we see how time goes by and nothing they get from our brothers is unfair that they continue to kill us with this pain and humiliation that we go through on visits,” said a relative of political prisoner Javier Palacio Hernández. .
Sentenced to 15 years for alleged drug trafficking
Another case that involves three opponents of Masaya who are on their way to serving four years behind the bars of the La Modelo prison is that of the political prisoner released jose sanchez sanchez, Uriel Jose Perez and JOsé Angel Gonzálezwho are serving a 15-year sentence for the alleged crime of drug trafficking and belonging to the same criminal gang.
The trial was conducted by the Judge Adela Cardozaof the Second Criminal District Court of Managua.
The three self-summoned were detained in their respective homes on November 13, 2019 through strong police operations and without a warrant, according to their relatives, who denounced that they put the drug on them to invent the common crime.
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Their families have spent four Christmases without having their loved ones at home. In the case of the political prisoner Uriel, his mother was unable to see him released, since in December 2021 she unfortunately passed away.
The last of the department’s political prisoners is Norlan Cardenaswho was linked to the case of the opponent “Chabelo” in Masaya, who was assassinated at the beginning of December of that same year.
Cárdenas has a 13-year sentence for the alleged crimes of obstruction of functions, frustrated attempted homicide, illegal possession of restricted weapons and manufacturing explosive devices. He is incarcerated in La Modelo prison and, like other prisoners of conscience, his families have been victims of siege.
In Nicaragua there are 235 political prisonersamong them 14 women, in the different Nicaraguan penitentiary systems and in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance known as “El Nuevo Chipote”.
Various sectors of civil society, human rights organizations and the international community have demanded his release, but the regime has ignored it.
