Adopted unanimously on Tuesday, September 3, a law approved by the Nicaraguan Parliament will allow for the prosecution of opponents of President Daniel Ortega’s regime who live outside the country’s borders, whether they are nationals or foreigners.
This reform of the Penal Code provides for sentences of up to thirty years in prison, with possible confiscation of property, for those who promote sanctions against the government of Managua. The text, which will come into force upon its publication in Official Journalestablishes that companies and NGOs can also be sanctioned.
The law aims to “strengthen the work of our country’s institutions responsible for combating transnational organized crime”said the pro-government deputy María Auxiliadora Martínez during the parliamentary session.
For the opposition, mainly exiled in Costa Rica, the United States and Spain, it aims to provide a legal framework for practices “repressive” of President Ortega. “It allows the regime to prosecute any person, whether or not they are in Nicaragua, and without the need for them to be present at the trial, thus consolidating a legal framework that supports these repressive practices.”Former presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga, exiled in the United States, explained to Agence France-Presse. According to him, Mr. Ortega intends to do so “silencing the opposition around the world”.
UN warning
The law was passed on the day the UN warned about ” severe “ deterioration of human rights in the country since 2023, with an increase in arbitrary arrests and persecution against those who “perceived as dissidents” by the government.
After accusing them of “betrayal”In 2023, the Nicaraguan government released more than 300 critical politicians, journalists, intellectuals and activists, expelled them and deprived them of their nationality and property.
Daniel Ortega, 78, who ruled in the 1980s after the triumph of the Sandinista revolution, returned to power in 2007 and was re-elected in elections not recognised by Washington, the European Union and international organisations. The former guerrilla leader is accused of having established an authoritarian regime in this Central American country of seven million inhabitants. In 2018, protests against his regime were harshly repressed, leaving more than 300 dead, hundreds arrested and forcing thousands more into exile, according to the UN.
