A group of experts from the United Nations Organization (UN) asked this Thursday an international investigation against the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortegato the vice president, Rosario Murilloand other high-level officials in the country, for possible crimes against humanity.
The request arises from a report by the UN group, created to investigate human rights violations in the Central American nation, starting from the political crisis that the country faced in 2018.
“President Ortega, Vice President Murillo and the high-level officials identified in the investigation they must be held accountable before the international community,” said the German criminal lawyer Jan-Michael Simon, who led the experts, in a Press conference in Geneva to present the report.
“Ortega and Murillo would have given orders to repress opponents”
The group established that Ortega and Murillo “give orders and instructions –directly or through trusted advisors– to the different institutions what they have to carry out repressive acts, both against opposition people and against perceived as such,” according to the document.
The Nicaraguan government did not respond immediately to a Reuters request for comment. In the past, the Ortega administration ignored other UN reports and of the Organization of the United States (OAS)describing them as “international campaign against him.”
INTER – LATAM-POLITICS_opt.jpeg
REPRESSION. In mid-February, the Government of Daniel Ortega released dozens of political prisoners, declared them stateless and expelled them from the country.
What happened in Nicaragua in 2018?
In 2018, a serious wave of protests were repressed by law enforcement, leaving a balance of 361 deaths, as explained by certain human rights organizations. In the following years, it became known that the authorities opposition leaders arrestedincluding electoral candidates and religious, in addition to confiscating even universities and civil organizations.
The document also explains that, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)between 2018 and June 2023, there were exactly 874,641 Nicaraguans that they requested asylum in the foreignof which 60,424 obtained the status of refugee, after leaving the country.
image.png
The report talks about “politically motivated persecution”. And remember the expulsion to the United States in 2022, of 222 people to whom justice declared “traitors to the country” and denounces the arbitrary deprivation of the nationality of at least 317 opposition citizens to the Government or perceived as such.
Source: Ambito
