Minutes after the fourth hearing of the trial against the political prisoners: Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Tamara Dávila, Violeta Granera, José Pallais, Félix Maradiaga and José Adán Aguerri concluded, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) warned about the serious physical deterioration of prisoners of conscience, situation that was evidenced by the presence of a doctor in the political trial, held in “El Chipote”.
The presence of a doctor from the Roberto Huembes Hospital, valued the Cenidh, “is evidence that the same regime (which has them locked up) recognizes the deplorable state of health of the prisoners and the risk of irreparable damage.” For this reason, the Cenidh “demands the cessation of the cruelty by the Ortega-Murillo regime against political prisoners. We hold them responsible for their health and their lives and we demand their immediate release,” they added.
Relatives of the political prisoners also denounced that during the first three days of the trial, Judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón Moreno, of the Fifth Criminal District Court of Judgment, ordered the Directorate of Judicial Assistance that the seven detainees be sent to the Roberto Hospital Huembes to be examined by specialists; however, by the end of the fourth day of the trial, the court order had not been complied with.
According to relatives, the state of the political prisoners is “alarming”, so much so that during the trial the political prisoner José Pallais fainted and had to be removed from the process to receive medical attention. Most of them show an abrupt weight loss, weakness to walk and get up from the chairs where they are placed, and insecurity and fear when speaking.
House by jail for three sick political prisoners
So delicate is the state of health of prisoners of conscience that Daniel Ortega’s regime was forced this Friday night to change the precautionary measure from preventive detention to house arrest to the political prisoners: Arturo Cruz, 68 years old; Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, 77; and José Pallais Arana, 68; accused of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity”, but he did not explain anything about the diseases that afflict them.
? According to a statement from the Public Ministry, three political prisoners were changed from preventive detention to house arrest. What does this mean? Will it be the prolongation of the jail to the house? Will the torture continue? pic.twitter.com/19fQR65xXF
— Cenidh (@cenidh) February 19, 2022
“The Public Ministry, upon learning of the state of health of the aforementioned persons, for humanitarian reasons, asked the judicial authority to change the precautionary measure from preventive detention to house arrest, which was authorized by the corresponding judicial authority,” The Public Ministry said in a statement.
The change of precautionary measure occurs after the death of retired general Hugo Torres, also accused of “treason against the fatherland”, who died on Friday, February 11 in police custody, after having spent more than six months under the prison regime. torture, which broke his health and forced the police to transfer him to a hospital in mid-December to treat an illness not yet specified by the authorities.
The order was executed at midnight this Friday. Cruz, Pallais, and Aguirre were taken to their homes, under police custody, where they slept for the first time after spending between six and more than eight months in the Chipote cells.
They request a change of precautionary measure for Edgard Parrales
Lawyer Noel Alonso Cano, defender of political prisoner Edgard Parrales, 79, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), also requested a change of precautionary measure for his client, preventive detention by house arrest, due to his serious health condition. Request that was presented before the Ninth Criminal District Court of Hearing of Managua, also alleging that he is the oldest prisoner of conscience imprisoned
“My client has a picture of medical problems that require specialized medical attention, specific medical tests and a balanced diet to avoid digestive complications and added to it the age of my representative, he undoubtedly requires a more humane prison treatment that allows him to avoid complications. severe in his health and that, if not attended to, could lead to serious injury to the physical integrity and even the loss of the life of my client, “said the lawyer in statements to 100% Noticias.
Parrales was arrested on November 22 last year by civilians who kidnapped him and took him to El Chipote. The former diplomat was accused of the alleged crime of “provocation, proposal and conspiracy to undermine national integrity.”
The Ortega-Murillo regime keeps 17 elderly people suffering from chronic illnesses kidnapped in prison, 14 of them arrested in the months prior to the November 2021 vote, when Ortega was re-elected in a vote without democratic guarantees, eliminating political competition to the order the arrest of the main political, economic and social leaders.
For the Cenidh, the terrible conditions in which the political prisoners are locked up and the lengthening of the trial, in some cases, constitute “an infamy that threatens their physical and emotional state.”
