Nicaragua: Crimes against humanity being committed against civilians for political reasons, investigation says

GENEVA (2 March 2023) – Widespread human rights violations that amount to crimes against humanity are beingDaniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, president and vice-president of Nicaragua committed against civilians by Nicaragua’s Government for political reasons, the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua said in a new report that calls for the international community to impose sanctions on institutions or individuals involved.

The alleged abuses – which include extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, arbitrary deprivation of nationality and of the right to remain in one's own country – are not an isolated phenomenon but the product of the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions and destruction of civic and democratic space, the report said.

"These violations and abuses are being perpetrated in a widespread and systematic manner for political reasons, constituting the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment, torture, including sexual violence, deportation, and politically motivated persecution,” independent expert Jan Simon said. “The Nicaraguan population lives in fear of the actions that the Government itself may take against them.”

Nicaragua Protest. April 2018."The high authorities of the Government have managed to instrumentalize the Executive, Legislative, Judicial, and Electoral Branches to develop and implement a legal framework aimed at repressing the exercise of fundamental freedoms and persecuting opposing persons,” Simon added. “The objective is to eliminate, by different means, any opposition in the country.”

Read more: United Nations Human Rights.

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