HRC60: Oral statement during ID on High Commissioner’s report on Nicaragua

Item 4: Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on human rights in Nicaragua

Speaker:Claire Denman

Thank you, Mr President.

CSW thanks the High Commissioner for this timely report on Nicaragua.

We share the High Commissioner’s concern regarding the enforced disappearances of Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda and Carmen María Sáenz Martínez, both Roman Catholic laywomen.

We are also concerned by the recent deaths of two political prisoners held incommunicado until their deaths.

Dr Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda, a lawyer and Roman Catholic lay leader was arbitrarily detained and held incommunicado from 13 August until his death on 29 August. His wife was prohibited from holding any funeral services and was not provided with a death certificate or cause of death. His coffin had already been sealed upon collection. Less than a week earlier, on 25 August, political activist Mauricio Alonso Petri died in arbitrary detention. His cause of death also remains unknown.

Mauricio Alonso Petri was detained on 17 July during a coordinated armed police operation against Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas, an outspoken critic of the regime, and several friend and family members including Mauricio Alonso Petri and his son.

No news has been given to their loved ones about their whereabouts, meaning their cases also amount to enforced disappearances.

We continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Nicaragua and for transparency, including a full and detailed investigation into what led to the deaths of Dr Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda and Mauricio Alonso Petri. Those responsible must be held to account and extensive reparations made to their widows.

Thank you.