IACHR orders Nicaragua to release 14 prisoners, including Cristiana Chamorro

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordered this Thursday to Nicaragua to free presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro and 13 more prisoners, as part of an expansion of provisional measures in favor of opponents of the Government of Daniel Ortega who have been detained in recent months.

“The Court considers it necessary, due to the exceptional circumstances of this matter, to order the immediate release of Cristiana María Chamorro Barrios, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, Walter Antonio Gómez Silva, Marcos Antonio Fletes Casco, Pedro Salvador Vásquez, Arturo José Cruz Sequeira, Luis Alberto Rivas Anduray, Miguel de los Ángeles Mora Barberena, Dora María Téllez Arguello, Ana Margarita Vijil Gurdián, Suyen Barahona Cuán, Jorge Hugo Torres Jiménez, Víctor Hugo Tinoco Fonseca and José Bernard Pallais Arana “, indicates the resolution.

This is the third resolution of provisional measures issued by the Inter-American Court since last June to order the release of imprisoned opponents and the protection of their integrity.

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Cristiana Chamorro, journalist and independent candidate for the Presidency, daughter of the ex-president Barrios de Chamorro and the national hero Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal (1924-1978), was the opposition figure most likely to win the elections, according to polls.

Chamorro tried to repeat the feat of her mother, who defeated Ortega in 1990, but her aspirations were cut short on June 2 when she was arrested for “treason against the fatherland” and alleged money laundering, and sent to house arrest without be able to communicate.

The Inter-American Court explained that what happened to the 14 people included in this Thursday’s resolution is framed “in a context of harassment of those who demonstrate in opposition to the policies of the current Nicaraguan government, its closest collaborators and workers, which it has been exacerbated this year due to the imminence of the general elections that will take place in the next few days. “

The court adds that the arrests of these people “are the most extreme example of the process of harassment and persecution against them.”

“The arrests of these people have been preceded by acts of stigmatization and intimidation, the arrest itself being the most extreme example of this process of harassment and persecution. To this is added the fact that certain procedural acts had taken place in the that their trusted lawyer would not have been able to participate and for whom the defense could not have been adequately prepared, “says the resolution.

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Also on the list of 14 beneficiaries of these measures is the presidential candidate Miguel Mora, a journalist who was in prison for the first time in the framework of the anti-government demonstrations that broke out in April 2018.

He is the founder, owner and former director of the television channel 100% Noticias, which was closed by the authorities.

This Thursday is the third resolution of provisional measures that the Inter-American Court has issued in favor of opponents detained in Nicaragua.

In those resolutions of last June and September, the Court ordered the release of Juan Sebastián Chamorro García and Félix Maradiaga, both presidential candidates, as well as José Adán Aguerri Chamorro, Violeta Mercedes Granera Padill, Daisy Tamara Dávila Rivas, Lesther Lenin Alemán Alfaro and Freddy Alberto Navas López.

To date, the Nicaraguan Government has not responded to the Inter-American Court on compliance with these measures. (I)