The Committee of the United Nations Organization (UN) against Torture pointed to the Police and paramilitaries at the service of the Ortega regime as the main repressors against Nicaraguans.
The organization expressed this Friday, July 29, its concern about the use of lethal force, arbitrary arrests, and acts of torture and mistreatment, as well as forced disappearances “at the hands of the National Police, agents dressed in civilian clothes and other actors during the 2018 protests and during the 2021 electoral process.”
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Faced with this crisis due to human rights violations in the country, the Committee urged the Ortega government to investigate “quickly and independently these abuses and adequately compensate the victims.”
Regarding the more than 190 political prisoners, the UN demanded that the rights of all hostages of conscience be respected and “the necessary measures be taken to prevent repression and violence against defenders of fundamental guarantees, journalists and opposition leaders and arbitrarily released detainees.
With regard to the serious conditions of detention in prisons and judicial complexes, the Committee asked Nicaragua to guarantee that the conditions of detention fully comply with United Nations standards, especially the Nelson Mandela Rules and the Bangkok Rules, ensuring a Adequate medical care for persons deprived of liberty.
“Cancellation of NGOs, a pattern of repression”
On the other hand, the Committee and experts pointed out the arbitrary closure of hundreds of civil society organizations in Nicaragua, and emphasized that “it is very worrying and would have a chilling effect on activists and human rights defenders throughout the country.” .
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According to the report of the Committee against Torture, in a letter addressed to the Ortega Government, on Monday, July 25, they assured it that the cancellation of the legal personality of hundreds of associations “represents a clear pattern of repression of civic space.”
They point out that although it is true, the closure of civic space has been observed since the 2018 crisis, it has accelerated as a consequence of the Law on the Regulation of Foreign Agents (2020) and the General Law on the Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations which recently entered into force.
In addition, they indicate their concern about the dissuasive effect that the cancellation of NGOs has on civil society actors.. “Hundreds of activists have already fled the country to seek refuge in neighboring states given the risk of reprisals,” they affirm.
Despite the repeated calls by the UN and other organizations for the Nicaraguan regime to end the repression against Nicaraguans, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have increased their persecution and imprisonment of opponents, journalists, and political activists.
