The court also urged the government of Daniel Ortega to allow political prisoners contact with their families and lawyers, and guarantee immediate access to health services and medications.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CorteIDH) ordered the Nicaraguan government on Monday the immediate release of nine imprisoned opponents, and that while this happens, take measures to guarantee his integrity and his life.
In a resolution of provisional measures published this Monday, the Inter-American Court requires the Nicaraguan State “Immediate release” of the president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, Michael Healy.
Added to this is the vice president of that group, Alvaro Vargas, as well as peasant leaders Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena.
The list is completed by communicators Jaime Arellano and Miguel Mendoza, the student leader Max Sherry and former diplomats Mauricio Diaz Davila and Edgar Parrales, the latter two under house arrest.
“The arrests and criminal proceedings initiated are part of a context of harassment of those who demonstrate in opposition to the policies of the current Nicaraguan government, which has been exacerbated due to the elections that took place in November 2021,” he says. the resolution.
#Provisional measures ???????? ⚖️???????? ⚖️Resolution of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of May 25, 2022 in the Case of Juan Sebastián Chamorro and others regarding Nicaragua ????????.
???? More information here: https://t.co/eCeVItmEXp pic.twitter.com/RyzErjvANO
— Inter-American Court of Human Rights (@CorteIDH) June 7, 2022
The Inter-American Court also ordered the government of Daniel Ortega to “proceed to unequivocally inform his relatives about his place of detention.”
Added to this is “facilitating their immediate contact with relatives and lawyers, at least once a week. This, in addition to guaranteeing immediate access to health services and medicines for the beneficiaries”.
Imprisoned opponents in Nicaragua
The judges also required the State to “immediately adopt the necessary measures to effectively protect life, integrity and liberty.” The foregoing, for all the beneficiaries of the measures and their families.
This resolution is an extension of others that the Inter-American Court has been issuing in recent months in favor of imprisoned opponents in Nicaragua who remain in prison.
The deprivation of liberty for political reasons, indicated by humanitarian organizations, was accentuated in 2018. This, when Nicaraguans came out en masse to protest against Ortega.
On that occasion, the protesters were violently repressed by police and paramilitaries, causing more than 355 deaths and at least 2,000 injuries.