Nicaragua: Ortega regime bans political prisoners from seeing attorneys or relatives

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Nicaraguan police on Wednesday rejected a humanitarian request for a group of 15 NGO leaders and workers, detained in a recent wave of arrests against dissidents, to be allowed to contact their attorneys and relatives, their legal representatives denounced.

The wives, sisters, nieces, and children of the political prisoners went to the headquarters of the Judicial Assistance Directorate of the National Police requesting to see the detainees, but were turned away by officers of the Police Special Operations and riot police.

“We have gone to the Courts and tried to file appeals for visits, for them to have the right to have contact with the outside world, for them to be guaranteed the right to a private hearing and a defense with an attorney of their choice, but the Judicial Power denies us that, we come here and no one will receive us,” said Ana Álvarez Vijil, sister of opposition leader Tamara Dávila Vijil, in an improvised press conference.

As the authorities have not reported the prisoners’ whereabouts or health condition, while most of whom are being investigated for crimes considered “treason to the homeland,” their relatives believe them to be “missing.” They also consider them “kidnapped,” as their arrests allegedly occurred in violation of the law.

“They continue to violate and restrict our freedoms and the freedoms of our relatives who have been detained for up to 39 days, kidnapped, illegally and arbitrarily,” said Alvarez, speaking on behalf of the complainants.

The prisoners’ relatives alleged that the Nicaraguan Constitution guarantees that people are considered innocent while under investigation, and that they are entitled to visits from attorneys and relatives; however, they complained about the authorities’ handling of the case.

“It shows the institutional collusion at work and how the different bodies of what should be the justice system are at the service of the regime and the dictatorship, and all the authorities are in collusion – the Police, the Judiciary, the Public Defender’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office,” said Alvarez.

The denouncers identified themselves as relatives of opposition leaders Dávila Vijil, Ana Margarita Vijil, Suyen Barahona, and Violeta Granera, former Sandinista guerrilla dissident Dora María Téllez, presidential hopefuls Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Miguel Mora.

The concern, expressed in a letter to the Nicaraguan Police, was also signed by relatives of former Vice Chancellors José Pallais and Víctor Hugo Tinoco and ex-deputy Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios.

The relatives of sports journalist Miguel Mendoza, of the workers of the extinct Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, Walter Gómez and Marco Fletes, as well as of the driver of presidential hopeful Cristiana Chamorro, Pedro Vásquez, also signed.

At least 21 people considered as oppositionists have been arrested in the context of the upcoming November 7 elections, in which President Daniel Ortega is seeking a new re-election. In these elections, Ortega will run in an attempt to complete 42 years of virtually absolute primacy over Nicaraguan politics.

Source: Infobae