Lucía Pineda, Nicaraguan journalist apprehended for her reporting, receives precautionary measures from the IACHR

Lucía Pineda, Nicaraguan journalist apprehended for her reporting, receives precautionary measures from the IACHR

Washington, DC, February 22, 2019 – Nicaraguan journalist Lucía Pineda Ubau, Head of the Editorial Office of Canal 100% Noticias [100% News Channel], this Friday received precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in light of that body’s belief that her rights to life and physical integrity are “in a state of grave risk.”

Pineda Ubau, 45 years old, is currently detained in the La Esperanza [The Hope] Women’s Penitentiary System and faces a trial for the crimes of provocation, proposition, and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in which due process guarantees have not been respected.

According to the information received by the IACHR, the initial persecution of the journalist and her subsequent detention and trial “would be presumed retaliation for the exercise of her journalistic activities and right to freedom of expression.”

The journalist denounced through 100% Noticias “the repression by the National Police to disband the protests, as well as multiple detentions, denunciations of torture, disappearances, and allegedly arbitrary trials that were initiated against protesters,” highlights the IACHR.

Through its Resolution No. 873-18, the IACHR asks the State of Nicaragua to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the rights to life and physical integrity of Pineda and her nuclear family, whose identity the IACHR reserves.

Specifically, it asks the State to ensure that prison agents respect the journalist’s rights “pursuant to standards established by international human rights law,” given that it is known that Pineda has been submitted to at least 30 interrogations lasting several hours with the goal of recording a video of her asking President Daniel Ortega for forgiveness.

They are also asking the State to ensure that the conditions in which Lucía Pineda Ubau are detained adhere to international standards.

Since being detained, Pineda has reported to her defense attorney that she sleeps on the floor, receives no food, and has nothing with which to clean herself, which has resulted in a skin illness.  In addition, the lack of a toilet in her cell forces her to go to the bathroom in a manner that offends her human dignity.

The IACHR asked the State to provide the appropriate medical attention to Lucía Pineda and to facilitate her access to her legal representatives and visits from her family, given these have been limited to date.

Lucía Pineda is one of at least 60 female political prisoners being held by the government of Nicaragua.  It is estimated that 765 people have been incarcerated for demanding justice and democracy from Nicaraguan authorities.

Antecedentes

Since governmental repression began against protesting citizens in April 2018, Canal 100% Noticias has denounced the ongoing violence in the country.  Lucía Pineda, as the Director of Communications for the media outlet, gained visibility for her journalistic work on the program 100% Entrevistas [100% Interviews], which in turn exposed her to threats, attacks, and even a campaign against her aimed at stigmatizing her.

On December 21 of last year, several weapons-wielding police patrols broke into the offices of the TV outlet 100% Noticias at night.  In the operation, they dismantled and removed journalistic equipment and illegally detained the channel’s director, Miguel Mora, his wife, journalist Verónica Chávez, and Pineda.  All of them were transferred to the Dirección de Auxilio Judicial [Directorate of Judicial Aid] (DAJ) and it was not until 72 hours later that the authorities informed their relatives as to their whereabouts.  During that time, Chávez was released.

Mora and his relatives had received precautionary measures from the IACHR just eight days before his detention, as did journalist Leticia Gaitán.  The latter had to flee the country to guarantee her personal freedom.

On the same day as Mora and Pineda were detained, the Instituto Nicaragüense de Telecomunicaciones y Correos [Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Mail] (TELCOR) suspended the TV outlet.  To date, the [TV channel’s] offices remain broken into, shuttered, and guarded by police agents, while the [channel’s] frequency was awarded to another TV channel.

PRONOUNCEMENT: We embrace the attempts to resume dialogue in Nicaragua, though with guarantees that human rights will be respected

Washington, DC, February 18, 2018 – Last Saturday, the government of Nicaragua met with businesspersons from national banking institutions and agroindustry, with the following individuals serving as witnesses: Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, and Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, Apostolic Nuncio.  As reported by the government itself, said meeting confirmed “the need to reach an understanding, in order to commence negotiation, through an inclusive, serious, and frank encounter.”  The businesspersons, for their part, called on all sectors of Nicaraguan society to decisively support possible new negotiations with the government.

Between May and June of last year, the Nicaraguan government initiated a national dialogue, with the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua serving as the mediator and the Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia [Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy] as a counterpart.  Nonetheless, it was canceled due to the government’s refusal to cease the repression against the Nicaraguan people.

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) believes it is essential to resume the national dialogue between the government of Nicaragua and broad sectors of civil society in order to find a solution to the profound ongoing human rights crisis that in many respects has become more acute after 10 months.

Since April 18, 2018, the repression of antigovernment protests has resulted in at least 325 people killed, more than 2,000 injured, around 50,000 people compelled to flee the country as refugees, and more than 700 men and women currently imprisoned for calling for justice for the victims of the repression and respect for democracy.

In recent months, the authorities have aimed their repressive tactics at human rights defenders, women, journalists, independent news media, and civil society organizations in order to dismantle all spaces for criticism.

In light of these circumstances, Race & Equality believes it is critical, in order to restart the national dialogue, for the Nicaraguan government to send clear signals of complying with its national and international human rights commitments, among which we highlight the following:

  • Immediately cease the repression and arbitrary detentions of the Nicaraguan populace.
  • Nullify the trials of and immediately release all political prisoners.
  • Authorize the return to the country of the Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as well as the mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), which were expelled from the country last year.

We have observed with concern how the apprehension of citizens has continued in various part of the country and that the judicial machinery does not stop imposing hundreds of years of prison, failing to respect the guarantees of due process.  Neither of these behaviors nourish in any manner the fostering of a favorable environment for dialogue.

Race & Equality strongly believes that an inclusive dialogue is the only solution to the Nicaraguan crisis: a dialogue that nourishes the respect for human rights, truth, justice, and reparations for the victims.

*Photo of Oscar Navarrete taken by La Prensa newspaper.

Political Prisoners in Nicaragua: Three Campesinos Sentenced to 216, 210, and 159 Years in Prison

Washington, DC, February 18, 2019 – Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena, two leaders of the Movimiento Campesino [Campesino Movement] arrested in July for demanding justice and democracy from the government of Nicaragua after the brutal governmental repression of civic protests, were sentenced today to 216 and 210 years in jail, sentences that are considered excessive for defendants in Nicaragua, given that life sentences do not exist in that country and the maximum sentence permitted under the [Nicaraguan] Constitution is 30 years.

The campesinos had been declared guilty on December 17, 2018 of the crimes of terrorism, organized crime, assassination, simple kidnapping, robbery, and hindering public services.  The defense lawyers who represented the campesinos, as well as experts in this field, viewed it as the end of a trial lacking guarantees, filled with contradictions, false witnesses, and evidence tampering.

According to local media, the sentence was announced by Judge Edgard Altamirano of the Ninth Criminal Trial District of Managua, who additionally sentenced a third campesino by the name of Luis Pineda Icabalzeta to 159 years in prison.

In December, a fourth defendant named Silvio Saúl Pineda Bonilla was declared not guilty of the crimes of which he had been accused.

The lawyer defending Mairena and Mena, Julio Montenegro of the Comisión Permanente de Derechos Humanos [Permanent Commission on Human Rights] (CPDH), declared last December to local media that Judge Altamirano “had the ruling already prepared,” which he read immediately following the closing arguments.

Mairena, Mena, and Pineda are some of the more than 760 political prisoners recorded by the Comité Pro Liberación de Presos y Presas Políticas de Nicaragua [Committee in Favor of Freeing Nicaraguan Political Prisoners] up through February of this year.  These three campesinos bring the total to more than 140 political prisoners who have already been sentenced.  Their crime, affirm their relatives, has been to protest with the flag of Nicaragua in their hands.

Who are they?

Mairena represented campesinos in the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, a group of citizens, students, businesspersons, and activists who participated in the National Dialogue with the Government to seek a way out of the socio-political and human rights crisis that by May had left 56 dead. As of this writing, State repression has left at least 325 dead, more than 2,000 people injured, and more than 50,000 who have sought refuge in Costa Rica.

In addition, Medardo was the coordinator of the National Council in Defense of the Land, the Lake, and Sovereignty, a group of campesinos who have fought since 2014 for the repeal of Law 840 that grants a Chinese company permission to build and operate an interoceanic canal that would destroy dozens of rural communities in Nicaragua.

Mena also belonged to the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, serving as an advisor to Mairena, and was part of the campesino movement opposed to the canal project.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s accusation, quoted by the newspaper La Prensa, Medardo Mairena was the head of a “criminal group” that guided the creation of roadblocks in Boaco, Chontales, Nueva Guinea, and Río San Juan to prevent the normal operation of transportation and commit various crimes. In addition, he is accused of being the mastermind of the murder of five police officers and a civilian in the municipality of Morrito, in Río San Juan on July 12, 2018.

Although Medardo Mairena openly supported the creation of barricades or roadblocks, they were actually installed by the campesino movement, students, and citizens throughout the country as a form of civic protest against governmental repression. Residents of Morrito, according to the digital media outlet Confidencial, attribute the assassinations to parapolice officers allied with the government who attacked a peaceful march that same day. Relatives of Mairena and Mena say they are being criminalized for actively participating in demonstrations against the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, as well as for the public demands for justice and democracy that were issued as a result of acts of repression committed since April 2018.

Detention

Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena were at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua when they were arrested on July 13 without an arrest warrant. From there, the police took them to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ), better known as “El Chipote” [The Smack].

The police issued a statement announcing that they had arrested Mairena “when he tried to flee the country.” The campesino leader’s brother, Alfredo Mairena, assured Confidencial that Medardo and Pedro were heading to Los Angeles, United States for a meeting in solidarity with the campesino movement. The police did not explain why they had also arrested Mena.

The police statement directly labeled Medardo “a terrorist” and “leader” of a criminal organization.

Judicial process

Four days after their arrest, a judge in Managua held a preliminary hearing against Mairena and Mena behind closed doors, according to the newspaper La Prensa. Following this hearing, the two leaders were transferred to the La Modelo [The Model] Prison System, where they have been continuously tortured. On July 25, the director of the CPDH, Marcos Carmona, denounced that the leaders were being beaten continuously by a prison official known as “El Chacal” [The Jackal].

After an initial hearing on August 15, the trial of Medardo, Mena, and Pineda was rescheduled three times and finally held on November 13. The defense alleged a “delay of justice,” and during those months of waiting, the torture and inhuman and degrading treatment continued.

Julio Montenegro commented on November 6 to journalists that since the campesino leaders were transferred to La Modelo, they remained in a cell known as “El Infiernillo” [The Hotplate], a small space with little ventilation and no light. In addition, he reported that the presence of insects, scorpions, cockroaches, and mosquitos was continuous, and the food provided was “wretched.”

After nine days of trial, the process concluded on December 17 with a ruling of criminal responsibility issued against the three campesinos. Neither the delegates of the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI, for its initials in Spanish) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) nor Nicaraguan human rights organizations were allowed to attend any of the hearings, despite the fact that Nicaraguan law establishes that hearings must be open to the public.

The tests and witnesses

CPDH lawyer Julio Montenegro confirmed on December, during a press conference, that no evidence presented by the Office of the Public Prosecutor – whether images, audio, or video – demonstrated overwhelmingly that Medardo Mairena had directed any actions against the police or that he had organized barricades or roadblocks.

Furthermore, Montenegro said the video that purported to be the most important evidence held by the prosecutors was in fact a sequence of three different scenes that “do not fit together.” “In the first scene, Medardo is on a cobblestone street with a group of people with blue and white flags; the second one is spliced together with a group of people who are in a crosswalk carrying red and black flags; and the third image shows a pitched battle in which Medardo Mairena does not appear.”

There were also serious contradictions among several of the 45 witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, all of whom were public officials. “One of the witnesses was made to read what he was going to declare from a giant screen,” Montenegro said.

On the ninth day of the trial, the Mairena and Mena defense presented three witnesses and a video that revealed that the day of the incidents in Morrito, Mairena was participating in a march in Managua.

Montenegro said back in December that he would file an appeal, wherein he will first question the validity of the trial due to innumerable anomalies in the process.

*A prior version of this article on December 19, 2018 was published when the campesinos were declared guilty.  This new version has been updated with the sentences they were given.

Main photo taken from El19Digital Website

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) views the sentencing of Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena, as well as the detention and irregular trials of those accused in the protests of April 2018 and subsequent months, as part of the response of the Nicaraguan government to the civic protests that began eight months ago.

The above was characterized by the OHCHR in its Report “Violations of Human Rights and Abuses” as follows:

“The overall response of the authorities to the protests did not meet the applicable standards for the proper management of demonstrations, in violation of international human rights law . . .”

In addition, the trials, sentences, and persecution and repression now prevailing in Nicaragua targeting various sectors must be assessed by taking into account what has been said by the OHCHR in its aforementioned report:

“Instead of recognizing any responsibility for the social catastrophe, the government has blamed social and opposition leaders, human rights defenders, and the media for what it has termed ‘coup violence,’ the negative impact of the political crisis on the national economy, and the 197 deaths that have been officially recognized…”

Race & Equality calls for the immediate release of political prisoners and for the State of Nicaragua to accept its responsibility for the violence unleashed by the authorities that has left at least 325 people dead, including 24 children. Race & Equality calls on the State of Nicaragua to ensure truth, justice, and reparation for the victims.

More than 60 female political prisoners have been subjected to different forms of violence in Nicaragua

February 14th, 2019. Around 68 female political prisoners of the Government of Nicaragua are facing different forms of violence, including violation of guarantees of due process, cruel and inhuman treatment, discrimination, sexual violence, lack of medical attention, threats, and harassment. This situation was denounced yesterday by representatives of civil society during the private hearing “Human Rights Situation of Women Deprived of Liberty in Nicaragua,” held in Bolivia during the 171st session of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).

Among the speakers during the private audience were representatives of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), the Center for Health Information and Advisory Services (CISAS, for its initials in Spanish) and the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish). The latter two organizations had their legal status arbitrarily invalidated by the Nicaraguan Assembly, which has left the victims of the repression that these organizations attended defenselessness.

Due to a lack of information from authorities, there are no official figures on the numbers of female political prisoners in Nicaragua. However, data collected by the Nicaraguan Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IN-Defensoras) and the Registration Commission of the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB, for its initials in Spanish), suggest that 102 women have been arbitrarily arrested by police and paramilitaries since the protests against the government began 10 months ago. From that total, there is information that 68 woman are still detained. Of those, 40 are being prosecuted and 17 have already been convicted with sentences ranging from 6 months to 40 years of prison.

Additionally, 26 women are detained in the La Esperanza women’s prison, three are under house arrest and the rest are detained in the Judicial Assistance Department (DAJ, for its initials in Spanish), better known as ‘El Chipote,’ or in departmental police delegations.

Inhuman and degrading treatment

“La Esperanza penitentiary has been a cell of isolation and punishment. The blackmail, verbal abuse, and even physical abuse in some cases have been recurrent by the prison authorities,” the mother of one of the political prisoners said during the audience. She added that “inside (the prison) they are totally isolated from the rest of female inmates and they are treated as if they have a disease.”

Ana Quirós, director of CISAS, also pointed out that the 26 female political prisoners detained in La Esperanza are jammed into two cells that were originally designed for 8 prisoners each, which have a single bathroom.

According to Quirós, all the female political prisoners “live with permanent anxiety, facing threats and receiving constant visits by armed men with dogs” as a means of intimidation. In addition, many times they are taken out of the penitentiary without being informed where they are being taken, “so they live with the fear of being disappeared.”

Sexual violence

Another manifestation of repression committed by the authorities and mainly directed towards women is sexual violence. Quirós explained that the female political prisoners have been forced to strip naked and perform squats in front of their male captors, have been victims of inappropriate and obscene contact, have received threats of rape, and have been raped with penetration. All of the above situations have been used as a method of torture to obtain information or to force the woman to film incriminating videos against opposition leaders.

Restrictions on health

The prison authorities have also denied medical care and access to medical treatment to inmates with health issues such as depression and anxiety, infections due to overcrowding and poor hygiene conditions, migraines, gastritis and hypertension.

“There are some woman with more serious problems and whose treatment is urgent, such as Ruth Matute, who has a congenital heart disease; Brenda Muñoz, who suffers from hepatic and renal polycystic disease; and Delmis Portocarrero, who has lupus erythematosus and hypertension,” Quirós told the representatives of the IACHR.

She also mentioned other cases such as that of Mercedes Chavarría, who has paralysis of half of her body; Ana Hooker, who has only one kidney and as a result suffers from hypertension, fluid retention and hypothermia; and the case of Irlanda Jerez, who suffers from heart problems and had a mitral valvuloplasty.

Discrimination against LGBTI people

A representative of a Nicaraguan organization that promotes the rights of the LGBTI population  denounced that as of today, there are three transgender women who are detained in male prisons, including the students Victoria Obando and Kysha López.

“These women have been denied their right to gender identity, relegating them to prisons for men where they suffer discrimination, harassment, violence, and torture; and where they’re forced to undress in front of hundreds of men in the prison. They are shouted by the officials of the penitentiary system that ‘there are only virile man’ in there,” the activist exposed.

Violations of due process

Ana Bolaños, a lawyer at Race and Equality, pointed out the violations of the due process rights of the political prisoners in Nicaragua.

Women “have been arrested without arrest warrants, without charges by the Public Prosecutor’s Office or any lawsuits against them,” said Bolaños, adding that after their arrest, the prisoners are illegally remitted in their capacity as detainees to the cells of ‘El Chipote in Managua, where they have been subjected to extensive and repeated interrogations and different forms of violence.

“These actions have demonstrated the coordinated work among the organs that form the Criminal Justice System of Nicaragua, particularly the National Police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary,” she stated.

More than 700 political prisoners

In addition to the 68 women deprived of liberty, the Registration Commission of the UNAB and the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners count 700 men who have been imprisoned in the context of the current crisis of human rights in that Central American country.

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been submerged in a serious human rights crisis that has continued to intensified. During the last two months, the government has been silencing dissenting voices and the violence is more selectively manifested towards human rights defenders, women, journalists, independent media, LGBTI persons, and civil society organizations.

Nicaraguan Delegation Meets with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet

The International Institute of Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) facilitated a private meeting on February 1 between 10 representatives of Nicaraguan civil society organizations and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

In the meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, Nicaraguan human rights defenders presented a report detailing the grave state of human rights in the country following the persecution of activists, women, journalists, independent media outlets, youth, political prisoners, and human rights defenders by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

“We have met with the High Commissioner.  She listened to our requests and expressed her sincere concern regarding the situation in Nicaragua and her commitment to include and note the situation that is transpiring in all of her interventions and contribute in any way she can to bring about improvements in the conditions in the country,” affirmed Ana Quirós, the CISAS human rights defender who was recently arbitrarily thrown out of Nicaragua.  Likewise, Heydee Castillo, Director of the Instituto de Liderazgo de Las Segovias [Las Segovias Leadership Institute], said, “We were able to tell her verbally what we have experienced and what is being experienced by the people of Nicaragua, the levels of criminalization, violence, [and] crimes against humanity committed . . .”

Eight of the 10 civil society organizations present in the meeting have been arbitrarily censured by the current government following its decision to cancel their legal status in retaliation for complying with their missions and objectives: attending to the populace within the context of the Nicaraguan crisis.  It is thus that Luciano García of Hagamos Democracia [Let’s Build Democracy] expressed, “The most important thing was that we were able to bring her up-to-date in a timely manner regarding the abuses being committed by the regime against all Nicaraguans and all civil society organizations, and she [Michelle Bachelet] listened to our demands and is extremely concerned and surprisingly well-informed about the case of Nicaragua.”

One of the requests the representatives presented to Commissioner Bachelet related to asking the State of Nicaragua to stop the repression, persecution, and criminalization of the populace, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, social [and] political leaders, and journalists.  They additionally called on the State to provide guarantees for the prompt and safe return to the country of the human rights defenders who were forced into exile as a result of the criminalization and prosecution, as well as the reinstatement of the arbitrarily-canceled (illegally withdrawn) legal status to human rights and civil society organizations.

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See here the document containing the requests presented to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Throughout the meeting, the High Commissioner displayed great sensitivity and commitment to the situation.  Anibal Toruño of Radio Darío noted that the meeting provided not only a space for them to discuss the national reality, but also a chance to find other partners with whom to promptly resolve the crisis.  “It was an encouraging moment: we received the full support of the High Commissioner.  A window, a hope, and of course, the possibility of finding partners who can help us resolve the crisis we are currently experiencing in Nicaragua.”

Mónica Baltonado, representative of Fundación Popol Na [Popol Na Foundation], emphasized how important it was to tell the Commissioner about the pain that is being inflicted not only on human rights defenders and activists, but also on the nation: “It is of transcendent importance for the Nicaraguan organizations as well as for the entire society.  First, because we were able to directly communicate to her the pain and suffering of the Nicaraguan people and the enormous concern we have, but above all, the sense of urgency to find a solution in the shortest period of time possible.”

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been submerged in a grave human rights crisis that has become ever more acute, insomuch as the causes that provoked it have not been addressed, nor has the Nicaraguan people’s demand for justice and democracy been heeded.  In recent months the government has implemented a strategy of dismantling all spaces of criticism, while the violence is manifested in a more selective manner to target human rights defenders.  To date, the Nicaraguan government’s repressive actions have produced 325 assassinations, more than 2,000 injured individuals, 767 political prisoners, and more than 80,000 people have been forcibly displaced to Costa Rica.

Nicaraguan Delegation meets with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

Washington, DC. January 28, 2019. Representatives of Nicaraguan civil society organizations met with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Mr. Clement Nyaletsossy Voule, to apprise him of the persecution of organizations and their leaders by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo that has been ongoing since April 18 in the country.

The representatives of the organizations detailed to the Rapporteur the arbitrary nature of the cancelation of the legal status of nearly a dozen organizations with extensive experience in human rights defense and democracy, as well as the threats, assaults, and criminalization of human rights defense work faced by civil society leaders and their teams.

During the meeting, the Nicaraguan delegation asked the Rapporteur to speak to the Nicaraguan State about the arbitrary cancelation of the organizations’ legal status.  In addition, they detailed the need to demand that the State stop persecuting defenders, issue a public declaration condemning violations of the right to association, publicly recognize the work of defenders, and urge the State to permit the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council access to the country.

To that end, Rapporteur Nyaletsossy confirmed that he is monitoring the situation in the country [and] deems it very important to have the opportunity for spaces for exchange among different actors of civil society.  Likewise, he expressed an understanding of the suffering being generated by the situation in Nicaragua.

During the meeting, the representative of the United Nations noted that despite having made a request to the current government to visit the country, he had yet to receive an answer from the heads of State.

Lastly, the Rapporteur said he would undertake actions within the framework of the mandate of the Rapporteurship he heads.

International Organisations Establish International Observatory of the Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua

Americas/Europe, 16 January 2019. April 18, 2018 marked a watershet moment in the recent history of Nicaragua, with the outbreak of a political and social crisis that has seriously impacted the respect for and guarantee of human rights of the Nicaraguan people.

Nine months since the start of the human rights crisis, state repression against protesters, leaders, human rights organisations and social movements continues, placing the defence of human rights and social participation difficult to sustain. The government of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo has also been denying opportunities for international monitoring, which they had initially invited, such as the Follow-up Mechanism for the Situation in Nicaragua (MESENI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to the statement made by the executive secretary of the IACHR, Paulo Abrão, in his last presentation to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), “the characteristics of state violence show that there was a decision by the State to use forces in such a way that involved the commission of multiple criminal acts against demonstrators and political opponents; specifically murder, imprisonment, persecution, rape, torture and, eventually, enforced disappearances.”

According to what has been documented by the IACHR, the escalation of violence has resulted in 325 people killed and more than 2000 people injured; 550 people detained and prosecuted; around 300 health professionals dismissed from their jobs; and the expulsion of at least 144 students from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN).

With the possibility of international observation terminated, the blocking of spaces for civil society organisations to monitor and follow up human rights violations, the criminalisation of human rights defenders (HRDs) and their organisations, the closure of civil society organisations and the increasing forced migration of thousands of people due to the political violence, the need to establish an international mechanism to observe the situation in the country is extremely urgent.

It is in this context that a group of international and regional human rights organisations have come together to
establish the International Observatory of the Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua, including: Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Civicus- World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Urgent Action Fund-Latin America (FAU-AL), Front Line Defenders, Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), EU -LAT Network , JASS – Just Associates, Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (IMD), Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World), Plataforma Internacional contra la Impunidad, International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), Unidad de protección a defensores y defensoras de Guatemala (UDEFEGUA) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

The Observatory is constituted by virtue of the crisis in Nicaragua, which makes it imperative that international civil society reinforce its work of documenting and monitoring the human rights situation in a coordinated and proactive manner.

 

Main photo: Carlos Herrera/Confidencial

OAS announces it will apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua after learning that crimes against humanity have been committed in that country

Washington DC, December 28, 2018 – The Organization of American States (OAS) will begin the process of applying the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua, declared Secretary-General Luis Almagro yesterday, after the Vice President of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), Esmeralda Arosamena de Troitiño, presented a report produced by independent experts from various disciplines that reveals that actions committed by the State of Nicaragua against the peacefully-demonstrating population could be considered crimes against humanity.

Almagro explained that the application will begin with the convening of the Permanent Council, pursuant to Article 20 of the Charter, which establishes that when an alteration of the constitutional order occurs in any Member State that seriously impacts its democratic order, a collective assessment of the situation can be performed and related decisions adopted.

“We are required to begin the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua. The solution is still political and diplomatic, and we have the Inter-American regulatory instruments to address them,” Almagro said during an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council held in Washington, DC.

The Secretary-General of the OAS emphasized that at the beginning of the application of the Charter there is also an opportunity for the government of Nicaragua to reconsider its actions. Eight months after the beginning of the human rights and socio-political crisis in Nicaragua, at least 325 people have lost their lives as a result of the repression of demonstrators and more than 2,000 have been injured, according to the IACHR, while another 50,000 have had to flee the country and around 565 have been imprisoned.

During the last month, the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo launched a new escalation of repression against organizations defending human rights and media outlets by arbitrarily closing them and criminalizing journalists. Even the IACHR missions working in Nicaragua were expelled last week, accused of being “interventionist” and “biased.”

Under the current context of repression in Nicaragua, diplomatic representatives of several countries on the continent urged the Nicaraguan government to stop the repression and allow the return of the IACHR missions to the country; adhere to the recommendations of human rights experts; resume the national dialogue in a committed way; and reform the electoral system in order to hold early elections.

The United States of America, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile also requested the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, whose ultimate consequence could be the suspension of Nicaragua’s right to participate in the OAS.

Paula Bertol, Argentina’s ambassador to the OAS, stressed that “the lack of democracy and freedom in Nicaragua” has been exposed in the experts’ reports, and that is the reason why “many of our States are thinking about applying the Democratic Charter.”  “Many of our States are also considering an extraordinary consultation meeting because we are worried about what is happening in Nicaragua, because we don’t want more people to die as a result of the abuse of State power,” she added.

The ambassador of Chile to the OAS, Jaime Francisco Alliende, also called for “a solution to the political crisis in Nicaragua to be developed according to the principles and values ​​of Inter-American instruments, including the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” maintaining that when faced with a rupture of the rule of law, “all OAS Member States must raise their voices to call upon that regime to accept a peaceful and democratic solution to this serious crisis.”

The Vice President of the IACHR also supported the activation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter against the Nicaraguan government: “The IACHR calls on the OAS Member States to reject violations of human rights and acts of repression against the Nicaraguan population, and to consider compliance with the conditions that make the Inter-American Democratic Charter applicable to the country,” Arosemena de Troitiño said.

Future actions

In his speech, the Secretary-General also explained that future actions the OAS will take include asking the IACHR to denounce the crimes documented in its report before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and to ask the Permanent Council to request a meeting with the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) to present them the report on crimes against humanity.

The latter action would also permit the UN Security Council to remit the investigation of these crimes to the International Criminal Court, an organ of justice of which Nicaragua is not currently a party.

“If crimes against humanity continue to be committed, we will ask the States Parties of the OAS, as well as all democratic States, that under the concept of ‘universal justice,’ the officials appointed as instructors and executors in the experts’ report be detained and tried in their respective territories for these crimes, thus activating universal justice,” Almagro warned.

The ambassador of Nicaragua to the OAS, Luis Alvarado, ignored the report presented in the OAS and accused several countries of being “interventionist” and “biased” for requesting justice and democracy for Nicaragua. He also affirmed that Almagro did not deserve to be the Secretary-General of the OAS, an organization that he tried to disqualify by using the words of the late Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, describing it as a “Ministry of the Colonies.”  The representative of Venezuela was the only one to openly endorse Alvarado’s speech.

The report of the GIEI

In its final report drafted after six months of work in the Central American country, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) determined that “the State of Nicaragua has engaged in conduct which, in accordance with international law, must be considered crimes against humanity,” according to what was made known by the IACHR experts last week.

The report, presented in Washington, DC two days after the group was expelled from Nicaragua by the authorities, indicates that the crimes committed with the consent of the highest levels of the Nicaraguan government, were assassinations, incarceration, persecution, rape, torture, and forced disappearance.

The foregoing was affirmed following an arduous process of collecting information through direct interviews with relatives of victims and surviving victims, visits to and observations conducted in locations where the violent incidents occurred, meetings with journalists, examination of documents such as videos, photographs, and material from [traditional] media and social media. The State refused to provide them with information, despite the fact that the authorities had accepted that the GIEI’s primary mission was to assist the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Nicaragua to clarify the violent incidents that occurred at the beginning of the crisis.

The experts found that between April 18 and May 30, at least 109 people were assassinated and another 1,400 were wounded as a result of a “generalized and systematic attack against the civilian population” that was demonstrating against the government.

“The clearest and most serious pattern of behavior consisted of the use of firearms, including weapons of war, directly against people who participated in protest actions,” the report states, pointing to the National Police as the force in command of this conduct, which was accompanied in its actions by parastatal armed groups with the support of local political authorities.

For this same reason, GIEI recommends investigating President Ortega as being responsible for these events, in his capacity as supreme commander of the National Police.

Another human rights violation described in the GIEI report is the State of Nicaragua’s violation of its duty to ensure due diligence in the investigation of the violent deaths that occurred between April 18 and May 30, 2018.

“Out of 109 cases of violent deaths registered by GIEI, only nine have been prosecuted, which means that 100 still remain shrouded in impunity,” said Claudia Paz y Paz during the presentation of the report.

Even so, in the nine cases that have been prosecuted, six relate to victims with some relationship to the State of Nicaragua or government party. “In no case have trials begun against State security forces, despite the various evidence that indicates their possible responsibility,” the Guatemalan expert lamented.

 

Main photo: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS.

Missions of the IACHR in Nicaragua expelled by the government

Washington D.C., December 20, 2018. Two missions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Nicaragua tasked with monitoring human rights violations and helping the authorities to clarify the violent events that transpired in April and May 2018 during the beginning of massive demonstrations left Nicaragua yesterday after the government suspended their visit and forced them to leave the country.

The expulsion of the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI, for its initials in Spanish), which arrived in the country on June 24, 2018, and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI, for its initials in Spanish), which began its work in Nicaragua on July 2, 2018 – both in response to recommendations presented by the IACHR in the report “Serious Violations of Human Rights in the Context of the Social Protests in Nicaragua” – occurred a day before GIEI presented a report on their six months of work, and eight months after the beginning of the human rights crisis caused by the brutal governmental repression of citizen protests that has left at least 325 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and around 565 political prisoners.

The government’s resolution also prevents Special Rapporteurs and officials of the IACHR from conducting a series of visits that were already scheduled for the first quarter of 2019.

“The most affected [by the expulsion] are the victims and their relatives, because the main value of our work is to be able to bring the victims closer to the truth and justice. That is our deepest regret,” MESENI Coordinator Ana María Tello declared moments after learning of the authorities’ decision.

A MESENI report published Wednesday morning warned of “the intensification of a fourth stage of State repression” characterized, among other things, by the staggering of repressive measures and actions aimed at weakening the role played by human rights defenders and civil society organizations and the arbitrary expulsion or threat of expulsion of naturalized persons or permanent residents due to their participation in protests.

Months before, on August 31st, the government of Nicaragua expelled a mission of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shortly after it presented a report on the serious human rights violations committed by State forces within the context of the protests.

The reasons

Members of MESENI and the four GIEI experts – Sofia Macher, Claudia Paz y Paz, Amérigo Incalcaterra, and Pablo Parenti – attended a meeting on Wednesday with Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, during which he informed them of the unilateral governmental decision.

The letter Moncada read to the IACHR officials, later published by pro-government media, stated that the missions had not met their objectives and that “the IACHR, MESENI, GIEI, and OHCHR have become a platform for disseminating false information to promote international sanctions” against Nicaragua. In addition, it notes that the members of the GIEI did not respond to a counterproposal from the government on its Protocol of Action and that, therefore, they carried out “a series of actions in violation of the terms of the agreement” and national laws.

Incalcaterra later explained that the non-compliance with the Protocol of Action alleged by Moncada is “false” because all State communications were answered by the experts. “[The authorities] have not demanded that GIEI behave differently or that the our work be done in a specific way,” he alleged, instead denouncing that they never were given access to judicial files, official information that would allow them to fully comply with their mandate, or judicial hearings, even though the latter are public according to Nicaraguan law.

“The reasons they have given us do not satisfy us in any way.  We think those are arguments that have been developed, in the specific case of GIEI, so as to prevent us from presenting the report on our six months of work that was scheduled for tomorrow,” the expert added, also declining to provide details of the report, in light of the fact that the authorities had “suggested” he not do so in Nicaragua.

MESENI’s Tello also explained to local journalists that her mission sent more than 70 diplomatic notes to the government to request information or meetings with authorities, and that none of them had been answered. “There was never pressure from the government because we did not have a dialogue with them,” she said.

They will continue monitoring

The work of the IACHR that began in April 2018 launched with a working visit May 17-21, after which the report “Serious Human Right Violations in the Context of Social Protests in Nicaragua” was published. Since then, MESENI has drafted dozens of weekly reports on its monitoring work; the IACHR has processed precautionary measures for more than 100 people; and various Special Rapporteurs of that regional human rights body have visited the country to evaluate the current situation.

In addition, the Executive Secretary of the IACHR, Paulo Abraõ, has discussed the situation of Nicaragua in diverse spaces, such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and United Nations Human Rights Council. The IACHR also included four public hearings on Nicaragua in its 170th Period of Sessions, the last of which was held on December 6, 2018.

Ana María Tello stressed that neither the IACHR nor MESENI will stop monitoring the human rights situation in Nicaragua, although now they will have to do so from Washington, DC. Furthermore, experts of the GIEI announced that they would release their report from Washington, DC.

“The IACHR reiterates that the situation in Nicaragua will continue to be a priority, reaffirms its commitment to the victims of human rights violations, and will continue to monitor compliance by the Nicaraguan State with the international human rights obligations it has voluntarily assumed,” the Commission declared in a recent statement.

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) condemns and rejects the decision of the State of Nicaragua to expel the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

This arbitrary decision of the State of Nicaragua not only violates the agreements established with IACHR representatives, but also deepens the defenselessness of Nicaraguans at a time in which violence, criminalization, and harassment are intensifying against activists, human rights defenders, the media, and the general populace who dissent from the dictatorial regime.

We observe with concern a clear desire of the government to impose a state of terror in the country that violates the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional human rights instruments.

We urgently call on the entire international community to continue to monitor the crisis in Nicaragua and press for the protection and guarantee of the Nicaraguan people’s human rights.

As an organization that promotes and defends human rights in the Americas, we reiterate our willingness and commitment to denounce and fight against all acts that undermine the chance to build democracy, justice, and freedom in Nicaragua.

STATEMENT: Aggressions against human rights organizations in Nicaragua continue

Washington, D.C. December 14, 2018. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality) strongly condemns the violent and illegal forceful entries of the Nicaraguan police into the offices of the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos [Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights] (CENIDH), Instituto de Liderazgo de Las Segovias [Las Segovias Leadership Institute] (ILLS), Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud [Center for Health Information and Advisory Services] (CISAS), Fundación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo Municipal Popol Na [Popol Na Foundation for Municipal Promotion and Development], Fundación del Río [River Foundation], Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia [Institute for Development and Democracy] (IPADE), and the Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas [Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policy] (IEEPP). These forceful entries occurred beginning early Friday morning. All of the organizations had their legal status arbitrarily invalidated by the Nicaraguan Assembly. Race and Equality condemns these events as well the violent assault and looting of the newsrooms of the digital publication Confidencial, where the TV studios of the programs Esta Noche and Esta Semana are also located.

Representatives from the organizations reported that in order to break into their offices, the police agents abused their authority and physically assaulted the security guards in each location. They also broke down the doors, destroyed the furniture, and illegally seized documents, computers, and even vehicles.

Given this unprecedented attack in recent Nicaraguan history, we express our opposition to the arbitrary actions of the Nicaraguan authorities, as well as the impunity they enjoy when violating the fundamental freedoms of association and peaceful assembly of human rights defenders, the media and dissident activists. The actions of the authorities serve the purposes of the Ortega Murillo dictatorship and demonstrate an abrupt restriction of spaces for democratic participation and political rights of the groups that demand justice and peace in Nicaragua.

The human rights defenders involved are persistently attacked, criminalized, and persecuted. Additionally, the illegal takeovers carried out by the police not only violate the right to property and privacy of the defenders, but they are a forceful expression of the totalitarianism and politics of fear that the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have installed in the Central American country.

We demand that the Ortega government restore the legal status of the aforementioned organizations as well as return their stolen property.

These attacks are evidence of the state of repression and human rights crisis that the people of Nicaragua are facing. For this reason, we urge the international community to address these acts that violate the well-being of every human being and make it impossible to build democratic societies that seek to achieve welfare, justice and peace.

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