Euractiv.com with Reuters Est. 3min 01-03-2024 Content-Type: News Service News Service Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards. Nicaraguan citizens gather to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the April 2018 demonstrations against the Government of Nicaragua, on the coastal strip in Panama City, Panama, 19 April 2023. The Government of Nicaragua chaired by Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, responded with force against protestors in 2018. [EPA-EFE/Bienvenido Velasco] Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Print Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Nicaragua’s government committed human rights violations that amount to “crimes against humanity,” a United Nations-appointed team of human rights experts said in a report on Thursday (29 February). The report called for President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, to be “held accountable by the international community” for widespread abuses. “Serious systematic human rights violations, tantamount to crimes against humanity, continue to be perpetrated by the Nicaraguan Government for political reasons,” the experts said in a statement. The Nicaraguan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report’s findings. Ortega’s government in the past has ignored reports from the UN and the Organization of American States, which it says are part of an international campaign against it. The UN-appointed group, formed to investigate human rights abuses in the wake of Nicaragua’s 2018 political crisis, has previously found that the government committed acts of torture, extrajudicial executions, and arbitrary detention beginning in 2018. Although appointed by the UN, the group does not speak for the world organization. “Nicaragua is caught in a spiral of violence marked by the persecution of all forms of political opposition, whether real or perceived, both domestically and abroad,” said Jan Simon, the chair of the group. The experts called for an international investigation into Ortega and Murillo after identifying abuses throughout the government and police’s chains of command. The group did not identify the army as being involved in such crimes. Ortega, Murillo and senior government officials “must be subjected to judicial investigations for their possible responsibility in the crimes, violations and abuses described,” the document said. According to the report, more than 935,000 Nicaraguans fled the country from the beginning of the 2018 political crisis through June 2023. Political persecution is common in Nicaragua, and more than 300 Nicaraguans were stripped of their nationality in 2023, according to the report. On 12 October 2022, Nicaragua was one of only four countries in the UN which voted against condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The former USSR developed strong relations with Nicaragua following the 1979 Sandinista revolution which propelled to power Ortega. The special ties continued when Russia became the international successor of the Soviet Union. EU, US widen Nicaragua sanctions as Ortega begins new term Daniel Ortega was sworn in Monday (10 January) as Nicaragua’s president for a fourth straight term as the EU and US tightened sanctions over impugned elections held in November with all his challengers in jail. “Yes, I swear,” said strongman Ortega … (Edited by Georgi Gotev) Read more with Euractiv Navalny's funeral takes place under shadow of repressionThe funeral of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is scheduled to be held in Moscow on Friday (1 March), with mourners braving the risk of arrest to come and pay their respects.
