IACHR Grants Precautionary Measures in Favor of Eight Individuals Who Are Deprived of Liberty in Nicaragua

January 4, 2024

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 89/23 on December 30, 2023, to grant precautionary measures in favor of Kevin Emilio Castillo Prado, Víctor Jobelni Ticay Ruiz, Sergio Catarino Castiblanco Hernández, Jacqueline de Jesús Rodríguez Herrera, JECW, Olesia Auxiliadora Muñoz Pavón, Anielka Lucía García Zapata, and Melba Damaris Hernández in Nicaragua, in the belief that they face a serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to their rights.

According to the party who requested these precautionary measures, these individuals were deprived of liberty in a context marked by persecution and criminalization of opposition activists and other government critics. They are allegedly not being held in adequate conditions of detention and are said to have no access to medical care despite having various health problems. The State failed to provide information on this issue.

After assessing the legal and factual allegations, the IACHR considers that these individuals are in serious and urgent danger and that their rights to life, personal integrity, and health risk suffering irreparable harm. 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 protect the beneficiaries' rights to life, personal integrity, and health
2. Take all measures necessary to ensure that the beneficiaries' conditions of detention reflect the applicable international standards, including the following:
   1. Ensuring that they are not subjected to threats, hounding, harassment, and other forms of violence inside penitentiary facilities
   2. Ensuring that they have access to adequate, specialized medical care and immediately conducting a specialist medical examination of their current health condition
   3. Ensuring they receive the treatment and medication they need to treat their health issues
   4. Enabling regular access to and contact with their families and lawyers
   5. Considering the option of granting them alternatives to deprivation of liberty, given that it is impossible to protect their rights in their current conditions of detention
3. Come to an agreement with the beneficiaries and their representatives concerning any measures that need to be taken
4. 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.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 008/24

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