Nicaraguan lawyers and human rights defenders consider that the Criminal Action request to submit to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) the case of the medical student of Brazilian origin, murdered by an Ortega paramilitary in 2018, is important and timely ; because in Nicaragua it has been difficult and impossible to access justice.
The jurists of Criminal Action, in a conclusive brief of the case presented before the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), request that the file, which records the murder of the Brazilian university student Raynéia Gabrielle Da Costa Lima Rocha and in which his mother, María José Da Costa, is included as a victim, be processed before the I/A Court HR so that this instance of international justice hears about the process.
The Brazilian medical student from the American University (UAM) Da Costa Lima Rocha was shot to death on the night of July 23, 2018, in the midst of an escalation of repression against the social protests of that year.
for the lawyer Juan Diego Barberena It is opportune that the case of Raynéia Da Costa Lima Rocha be raised before the Inter-American Court “because in Nicaragua it has become evident that it has not been possible to access justice, in addition to the fact that there is a violation of Article 8.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights , which is the right of access to justice”.
“The crime of which this Brazilian citizen was a victim continues in total impunity and as internal remedies within the State are exhausted, (…) it is more than pertinent, viable and appropriate, legally speaking, to file a lawsuit before the Inter-American Court for the international responsibility that the State of Nicaragua has acquired in this case,” Barberena told Article 66.
The constitutional lawyer and defender of human rights Azahalea Solis recalled that the Ortega Murillo regime said that the murder of the Brazilian student had occurred outside the context of the 2018 crisis, so for her it is absurd that in the case of the young Raynéia Da Costa Lima Rocha they have favored the culprit with the 2019 Amnesty Law, a regulation “which, although it is a legal monstrosity, was supposedly intended to resolve the 2018 crisis.” “It doesn’t make sense,” she pointed out.
Solís assured that “this amnesty that was issued in Nicaragua in 2019 is really absurd in its legal approach because it misuses the term of non-repetition, so legally it is a monstrosity and it is important that this be recorded.”
The Criminal Action lawyers also asked the Inter-American Court and IACHR to decree against the Ortega Murillo regime, the “violation of the right to personal integrity”, and that the Amnesty Law promulgated by Ortega in 2019, is “incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights”.
According to the penalists, this amnesty must be declared “without legal effects” and cannot be used to hinder the investigation into the murder of the Brazilian university student.
Justice for the victims
Elisha Nuneza former deputy and political analyst, pointed out that the IACHR will begin to see more requests for cases that are still unpunished in Nicaragua so that they can be referred to the Inter-American Court with the aim of achieving justice for the victims.
“This (of raising the case to the Inter-American Court) is very important for the process of returning to democracy in Nicaragua, we cannot continue with this bet of how nothing can be done in Nicaragua, therefore, these judicial processes are of utmost importance to ensure that impunity has less space in Latin America”, said the also professor of Law.
Núñez also maintained that in addition to these processes, it can be seen which of the cases that are in impunity in Nicaragua “provide merit” to be presented before the International Court of Justice, so that from this other instance the victims reach justice and the State is responsible for the crimes.
In addition, he indicated that “you want to be in Nicaragua and be repressive, you have to know that time plays against them, to the extent that time passes and they age, to the same extent international justice will reach them regardless that today they feel very safe in the country, we basically have to have that capacity that, despite the fact that it is late, justice reaches the victims.”
Azahalea Solís recalled that “Nicaragua allegedly leaves the Inter-American System at the end of this year, however, the IACHR, as it has done on other occasions, can rule on this situation (the case of the Brazilian student) that occurred while Nicaragua was within the Inter-American System, with the obligations to fulfill the human rights that are within this system”.
