In April , Nicaraguans took to the streets in large numbers to protest the government of President Daniel Ortega. They were met with violence. A brutal crackdown by the National Police and heavily armed pro-government groups against protesters that lasted several months has left more than people killed and more than 2, injured. According to an independent group of experts, appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights IACHR with the support of the Nicaraguan government, police and armed pro-government groups committed widespread abuses against largely unarmed protesters, including extrajudicial executions, between April and July.
Governments in the Americas and Europe should impose targeted sanctions against top Nicaraguan authorities implicated in egregious abuses and explore avenues to press for accountability, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. This report examines what happened, after the crackdown in the streets, to many of the hundreds of people arrested by police or abducted by armed pro-government groups.
It is based on research conducted in Nicaragua and Costa Rica and a review of official sources. Expand Police arrest a man during a demonstration against the government in Managua, Nicaragua, on October 14, Many of the people detained during the crackdown on protests were subject to serious abuses that in some cases amounted to torture—including electric shocks, severe beatings, fingernail removal, asphyxiation, and rape. Many injured detainees were reportedly denied medical care in public health institutions and doctors who provided care said they suffered retaliation.
Hundreds of detainees have also been subject to prosecutions for alleged crimes in connection with their participation in anti-government protests or their role in social movements that challenged the government, sometimes even prior to the crackdown. Many have been accused by prosecutors of serious, violent crimes. These prosecutions have entailed serious violations of due process and other fundamental rights. Protestors have been held in incommunicado detention, subjected to closed door trials, and denied the right to confer privately with their defense lawyers.
In a handful of cases in which Human Rights Watch was able to scrutinize the evidence against the accused, we found that the prosecutions appeared to be based on contradictory or insufficient evidence. The Nicaraguan government has also targeted those who have reported on the crackdown in the streets and subsequent abuses.
