The European Parliament condemns the repressive drift of the Nicaraguan regime

USPA NEWS - The European Parliament condemned this Thursday the persecution of the opposition, the press and civil society in Nicaragua, and asked the EU for measures to stop the repressive drift in the country. In a resolution approved with 524 votes in favor, 17 against and 29 abstentions, the fifth on Nicaragua in this legislature, the MEPs denounced the abusive detention, the lack of procedural guarantees and the illegal convictions of political prisoners that have occurred in Nicaragua.

The text urges the Nicaraguan authorities to immediately release those detained since April 2018, cancel their judicial proceedings and allow the return of refugees and exiles. According to European Parliament, the illegitimate court rulings confirm the repressive drift of the Nicaraguan regime "with the patent collusion of the judiciary," aimed at silencing dissidents. The lack of separation of powers and total control of the institutions by the regime has led to the subjugation of the judiciary and the Prosecutor's Office to the will of the regime, "in order to establish a dictatorship," the text states.

"The judges have become a repressive arm responsible for human rights violations," say the MEPs, who ask the Council to immediately initiate the procedure to sanction more than a dozen of them. The resolution underlines that there are at least 182 political opponents imprisoned "in inhuman conditions", seven of them, presidential candidates for the 2021 elections. It denounces the systematic abuses and torture of which they have been victims and highlights the case of former rebel leader Hugo Torres, who died in prison, as well as the recent arrest of Father Manuel Salvador García.

The seriousness of the situation justifies, in his opinion, the opening of a formal investigation into Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega through the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The European Parliament also reiterates its request for Nicaragua to repeal various laws passed in recent years that restrict civic and democratic space, in particular the Special Law on Cybercrime, the Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents and the Law on the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-determination for Peace, as well as the reform of the Criminal Procedure Code.

MEPs also insist that, in view of the circumstances, the EU must activate the democratic clause of the EU-Central America Association Agreement. Finally, the resolution regrets that Managua voted against the expulsion of Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council for the atrocities committed by its forces in Ukraine and that it abstained in the vote on the resolution that condemned in March the attack on Ukraine and demanded an end to the invasion.