The UN denounces the fact that the law on terrorism in Nicaragua criminalizes protests



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The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced Tuesday that the law on terrorism recently approved by the Parliament of Nicaragua could be used to criminalize peaceful protests

"The text is very vague and allows a broad interpretation that could lead to the inclusion (in the definition of terrorist) of people who simply exercise their right to demonstrate, "said the spokesman of the Bureau, Rupert Colville, at the time of a press conference

. Money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction were approved last Monday and impose a sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for the crime of "terrorism".

Colville also pointed out that the law was approved by a Congress "almost totally controlled by the government."

The spokesman asked the authorities to report on the whereabouts of human rights defenders Medardo Maireno and Pedro Mena, "who may be victims of enforced disappearances", were denounced.

Both were arrested last Friday at the airport of Managua.

"We see a tendency to criminalize human rights advocates or people simply for taking part in protests," said Colville.

And he explained that the police had accused Maireno The spokesman pointed out that tomorrow, three months would have elapsed since the beginning of the protests in Nicaragua, first against the pension reform, then thereafter in big demonstrations against the government of Daniel Ortega.

The violence left more than 350 dead and 1,830 wounded, "and was exerted mainly by the state and by pro-government gunmen."

Precisely, Colville criticized the performance of these pro-government militias who act with impunity "with the active or tacit support" of the security forces.

on the ground that recorded "a wide range of violations committed, including extrajudicial executions, torture and arbitrary detention."

"There have been hate speech and disqualification campaigns involving human rights defenders, all in a context where due process is not being applied," he said.

With regard to United Nations human rights specialists, Colville stated that they were able to work but limited by insecurity and

This group of 39; experts repeatedly asked the government permission to visit the country's prisons, especially El Chipote, which has not happened yet, although Colville announced that on Tuesday they would be in

Finally, the spokesman warned that the violence could intensify on Thursday 19, when the dictator Somoza was deposed in 1979 by the Sandinists. t, n) {var o, s = e.getElementsByTagName (t) [0]; e.getElementById (n) || (o = e.createElement (t), o.id = n, o.src = "http: //connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.7", s.parentNode. insertBefore (or, s))} (document, "sc ript", "facebook-jssdk") [ad_2]
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