Petition demands release of imprisoned Protestant pastor

CSW has submitted a petition signed by over 1,000 people to Nicaraguan embassies and consulates in eight countries calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Protestant Pastor Efrén Antonio Vílchez López on the fourth anniversary of his detention.

The petition was submitted in Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States. [Note: Further hand-ins in Israel, Italy and Peru were completed after publication of this press release].

Pastor Vílchez López was beaten and detained by police officers on 15 May 2022 and falsely charged three days later with aggravated rape combined with the crime of minor psychological injuries against a vulnerable person. The charges are completely unfounded and a response to the pastor’s history of criticising the government of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and now co-President Rosario Murillo.

On 21 September 2022 the Third Specialised District Court for Violence in Managua sentenced Pastor Vílchez López to 23 years in prison, in a decision changing the classification of the crime of which he was originally accused, and refusing to consider evidence supporting his innocence, including CCTV footage proving his whereabouts at the time of the supposed assault.

Pastor Vílchez López, who is diabetic, is currently being held in ‘La Modelo’ Jorge Navarro National Penitentiary System. He is not permitted any books and since August 2024 he has been provided with only one small container of water a day. His Bible and glasses have been confiscated, he is rarely permitted to go outside, and he is regularly subjected to verbal abuse by the prison director. Prison officials have also refused to pass on packages of food and basic supplies, including medicine for hypertension, blood circulation and other health issues, brought by his relatives to the prison.

CSW’s Director of Advocacy and Americas Team Leader Anna Lee Stangl said: ‘The charges against Pastor Vílchez López are extremely defamatory and completely unfounded. We are highly concerned for his wellbeing as he has now spent four years in detention in inhumane conditions whilst suffering from a number of health conditions for which he has been denied appropriate treatment. We call on the government of Nicaragua to release him immediately and without condition and to end the harassment, imprisonment and forced exile of religious leaders and all those considered critical of the government.’

Notes to Editors:

1. Click here to download a copy of the petition as a PDF (also available in Spanish).
2. Photos from the hand-ins are available here.
3. The Nicaraguan government has a record of using dubious sexual assault cases to charge religious leaders who have been critical of its actions, including in the case of Bishop José Leonardo Urbina Rodríguez, who in 2022 was sentenced to 30 years in prison on strikingly similar charges, and later sent into forced exile in October 2023.