Daniel Ortega's regime released 636 prisoners for Holy Week but only 36 were political prisoners

The regime of Daniel Ortega announced Tuesday the release of 636 "common" prisoners, who were placed under house arrest, among whom are 36 hundreds of opponents arrested for taking part in anti-government demonstrations.

"On the occasion of Holy Week and the promotion of the family unit, 636 people imprisoned in various penitentiary institutions (…) will benefit from the regime of family coexistence", the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.

This modality allows prisoners sentenced to minor sentences to complete their arrest in their homes.

Hours after the announcement, the Foreign Ministry reported that the list "includes 36 people arrested" in the context of the demonstrations initiated a year ago against the regime of Daniel Ortega.

He said that the 36 opponents appear in the list The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights sent the Chancery in March.

Among the former convicts, however, neither the opposition nor the student leaders who led the demonstrations, nor the two journalists, are found. Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda, arrested for covering demonstrations.

The Council of Corroboration of Political Prisoners of the Opposition had previously stated that the list included 18 opponents.

"The government plays, it cheats", he said to the AFP Lylliam Ruiz, member of the Committee for the release of political prisoners (CPLPP), on the decision of the executive to include opponents on the lists of common law prisoners.

Opposition calculates that about 800 people are arrested for taking part in demonstrations against the Ortega government, while the authorities recognize only 350.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working with the parties to hear about the number of imprisoned opponents.

The Ortega regime has pledged in March to release "all" protesters in negotiations that it has with the opposition, but to date, he has sent only 236 people under house arrest.

"The government does not advance in the release of more political prisoners than was forced" in the dialogue, said the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy (ACJD) in a statement.

The truth is that "the government does not have the will to eliminate" the opponents of the prisonHe said AFP Sara Oporta, CPLPP member.

He described as "mockery" the fact that the government exempts so many common prisoners and leave the protesters behind bars.

Between December and February, the government carried out two releases of common criminals, which benefited 2,908 people.

On the other hand, EThe United States asked Nicaragua unconditional release of all protesters They are being held for demonstrating against Ortega in the context of the crisis that erupted a year ago, including journalists Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda Ubau.

"We call on the government (from Ortega) to unconditionally release all detainees in the context of the protests, "a senior US government diplomat, who requested anonymity, told reporters.

With information from AFP and EFE