UN accuses Nicaraguan government of widespread human rights violations

It documented human rights violations between April 18 and Aug. 18, including the disproportionate use of force and extrajudicial killings by the police, disappearances, widespread arbitrary detentions and instances of torture and sexual violence in detention centres.

“Repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away,” U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement.

The report said the U.N. Human Rights Council, which meets next month, should consider setting up an international inquiry or truth commission to prevent the situation getting worse, although “the chilling effect of repression” and a “a climate of widespread terror” had already silenced many of the protesters.

Detainees were tortured with Taser guns, barbed wire, beatings with fists and tubes and attempted strangulation, it said.

“Some women have been subject to sexual violence, including rape, and described threats of sexual abuse as common. Male detainees also mentioned cases of rape, including rape with rifles and other objects,” the report said.

“SHOCK FORCES”

The violent crackdown on protests against President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, have drawn international condemnation. The U.N. report said over 300 people had been killed and 2,000 injured.

After the protests began in April, people associated with the ruling Sandinista party were mobilised into “shock forces” or “mobs” to attack peaceful protesters, it said.

“These mobs were holding cudgels, sticks and stones and wearing helmets,” the report said.

The UN also had accounts of pro-government armed groups, trained by former gang members and retired soldiers, arresting protesters throughout the country.

“These armed elements are reportedly well trained and equipped with vehicles, military equipment and weapons, including with high calibre arms such as the AK-47 and Dragunov sniper rifles,” it said.

Ortega said in a TV interview with Euronews on July 20 that the groups were “voluntary police” on “special missions,” and they operated undercover for security reasons, the report said.

“OHCHR (the UN human right office) has gathered ample information (from confidential and open sources) that pro-Government groups acted with the acquiescence (and often in a joint and coordinated manner) of high-level State authorities and of the National Police, and that they act with total impunity,” the report said.

Some protesters had used weapons including rifles, but the U.N. found no evidence that they had coordinated or planned their violence.

The UN said it had been in regular contact with Nicaragua’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs but had faced obstacles to its work.