IACHR grants precautionary measures in favor of Gersom Antonio Zeledón and three other individuals in Nicaragua

October 25, 2024

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 75/2024 on October 24, 2024, to grant precautionary measures in favor of Gersom Antonio Zeledón Motta, Eveling Carolina Matus Hernández, Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda, and Carmen María Sáenz Martínez in Nicaragua, in the belief that they face a serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to their rights to life and personal integrity.

The party who requested these precautionary measures said that the whereabouts of the proposed beneficiaries were unknown since they were arrested between March and August 2024. The party who requested these precautionary measures alleged that these arrests had been conducted by police officers in raids on the proposed beneficiaries' homes, and that no grounds had been given for those arrests. State authorities had allegedly provided no official information about these individuals' whereabouts or current condition. The State failed to provide information to the IACHR on this issue.

After assessing the legal and factual allegations, the IACHR considers that the beneficiaries are at risk. The IACHR noted that the risks faced by these individuals may become increasingly harmful for their rights, given that their whereabouts are unknown and that the State has not provided any information about the measures that might have been taken to mitigate the risks they face or about any measures taken to establish their whereabouts. Consequently, in keeping with Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure, the IACHR asked the State of Nicaragua to take the following action:

1. Adopt any measures necessary to establish the beneficiaries' whereabouts and condition, in order to protect their rights to life and personal integrity
2. Say whether the beneficiaries are in State custody, and if so provide the details of their arrests and their conditions of detention (particularly report on their places of detention and grant their lawyers and families access to them, as well as enabling any healthcare assistance they may require, and ensure they are taken before court authorities so these may review and monitor their detention)
3. Report on any actions adopted to investigate the alleged events that gave rise to the adoption of these precautionary measures, in order to prevent such events from happening again in the future

The fact that these precautionary measures have been granted and their adoption by the State do not entail a prejudgment on a potential petition that may be filed before the inter-American system to allege violations of rights protected by the American Convention on Human Rights and other applicable instruments.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 263/24

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