To the 21 opposition political leaders detained in recent weeks, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has stripped them – in addition to their freedom – of their rights and constitutional guarantees as prisoners. Since they were arrested, the Police have not allowed them to meet with their families and lawyers; the Public Ministry requested the extension of the period of investigation and judicial detention up to 90 days; the Judicial Power rejected all the legal remedies filed and assigned them court-appointed attorneys. Leaving them in a state of “material helplessness”.
The lack of guarantees and the violations of due process “have been generalized” in the last three years, values the lawyer Gonzalo Carrión, from the Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Never Again. But now it is more notorious because it occurs in all cases. The lawyers appointed by relatives of the inmates “were annulled” by the Judicial Power, “only one, exceptionally, had a very short interview with his client. That is not defense, ”Carrión stressed.
In practice “there is a complete sweep of rights,” explains the human rights defender. “From the beginning to the end, these processes are totally aberrant, they have no legal basis.” The deprivation of liberty measure is “arbitrary and unconstitutional” because a person can only be detained “when you are committing a crime, which is not the case, or because there is an order from a competent authority,” he said.
The Political Constitution of Nicaragua, in its article 33, establishes that all detainees have the right to be informed “without delay, in a language they understand and in detail”, of the causes of their detention; to inform his family or whoever he deems appropriate about his detention and to be treated “with due respect for the inherent dignity of the human being.”
In the case of being prosecuted, Article 34 establishes the right “to due process and effective judicial protection.” This implies – among other things – that his innocence is presumed until his guilt is proven, that he be tried without delay, that his intervention and due defense are guaranteed, that he not be forced to testify against himself or to confess guilty. In addition to an oral and public process.
“In dictatorships there are no rights and guarantees”
For Carrión, the way in which the regime has proceeded against the last 21 detainees is “the grossest, most brutal display of the dictatorship.” But he reflects that “in dictatorships there are no rights and guarantees. Rights are defended and abuses are denounced, which is what is happening ”, keep going.
According to the Ortega regime, the leaders of the political opposition who are imprisoned are supposedly “investigated” for the crimes of treason, within the framework of the “Sovereignty Law”, and alleged money laundering. Some of the 21 detainees have already been locked up for thirty days and without any communication with their families and lawyers.
The first 30 days of the confinement
This Sunday the former workers of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCh), Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, are serving 30 days locked up in the “Nuevo Chipote”; While the former president of the Foundation and presidential candidate, Cristiana Chamorro, up to 25 days in house arrest, she is the only detainee who has been seen by her closest relatives. Also, the academic and presidential candidate, Arturo Cruz, is serving 22 days in jail, his relatives have not seen him but on one occasion he was able to meet with his lawyer for 20 minutes.
For their part, the presidential candidates Félix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro, together with the opposition leaders Violeta Granera and José Adán Aguerri, served 19 days in detention. Likewise, José Pallais has been in jail for 18 days and Tamara Dávila, 15 days.
Also the members of Unamos; Dora María Téllez, Víctor Hugo Tinoco, Hugo Torres, Ana Margarita Vijil and Suyen Barahona, have been locked up for 14 days. In addition, businessman Luis Rivas Anduray and Pedro Vásquez, Cristiana’s driver, served 12 days in detention.
In addition, the journalist and presidential candidate, Miguel Mora, is serving 7 days in prison for the second time; the sports writer, Miguel Mendoza, and the former first lady, María Fernanda Flores, detained for 6 days; and the former deputy, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, arrives on his second day in prison.
The isolation to which they are being subjected also “is a form of gross violation of human rights,” warns Carrión. They do it with the aim of “breaking them down, to break them and make them speak everything they say”, so “let’s not be surprised if – as in 2018 – videos of a broken person appear,” he emphasizes.
Lawyers receive threats
Although the efforts of the lawyers have been infertile, in recent weeks started receiving threats on their cell phones For this reason, some have chosen to abandon the cases and others have stopped giving statements to the media, explained relatives of the detained opponents.
A source close to the former president of Cosep, José Adán Aguerri, explained that the lawyer who was handling their case informed them that “because of the threats I have had” he decided not to continue. “We went two days without a lawyer,” the source said. That span of time, the family had to knock on several doors to find an advocate for their relative.
Ana Lucía Álvarez, niece of Ana Margarita Vijil and sister of Tamara Dávila, confirmed that the defense of the incarcerated opponents has been “quite a complex issue”, because in addition to the fact that lawyers are not allowed to meet with their clients, they are also “ being objectified ”.
The threats to lawyers coincide with the broadcast of a government program, in which the presenter read a list of lawyers who defend political prisoners. Of those who said that they are “paid by Cosep”, a body that he described as a “foreign agent.”
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