The Union of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Nicaragua (UPPN) denounced that the political prisoners Oliver Montenegro and Dorling Montenegro were “brutally beaten” after joining a hunger strike that began on Monday, April 25, in the Waswalí Penitentiary System in rejection of the “torture, cruel and degrading treatment” they suffer inside the prison.
According to the information released, the lawyer, a hostage of conscience and one of the promoters of the protest, Manuel Urbina Lara, was taken from his cell and taken to an unknown destination.
“Relatives of the political prisoners Oliver and Dorling Montenegro denounce that the young people were brutally beaten in the Waswalí Penitentiary System on April 26, after going on a hunger strike demanding an end to torture and immediate release,” said the defense organization of political prisoners.
Related news: They denounce the “isolation and constant torture” suffered by the political prisoners of Waswalí
For its part, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) indicated through its Twitter account that Manuel Urbina Lara “was taken from his cell by agents of the DOEP (Directorate of Special Police Operations) and officials of the Waswalí prison, Matagalpa; and taken to an unknown direction» in the night hours of this April 26.
«From Cenidh we condemn this fact and we join the demand of his relatives: the custody authorities must immediately report where he is and what his physical and mental state is. Mr. Urbina Lara has current precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). We demand that the Ortega Murillo regime fulfill its responsibility to respect his personal integrity and his life,” argued the defense organization.
Related news: Journalists register 175 attacks on press freedom in Nicaragua
Urbina Lara maintained that in the Penitentiary System “the flow of drinking water is limited, there are days that they give us half a gallon, they reduce our food, they have denied us recreation, sun, they have denied us everything (…) the more it flares up, let’s go to continue denouncing all the abuse that this regime is committing against all political prisoners.”
The UPPN has denounced that the regime currently registers more than “200 complaints of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of political prisoners and their families.” In Nicaragua, there are more than 180 political prisoners, of which 14 are women, 44 are people who have been recaptured or detained for the second time.
