Nicaragua protesters claim mistreatment
>> MANAGUA: Jailed Nicaraguan protesters said they had suffered beatings and mistreatment in detention following their release on Friday after a plea by Catholic bishops, as the death toll in two months of anti-government protests rose to 212.
Twenty-six young protesters were freed from jails in Managua and the flashpoint opposition bastion of Masaya in the first release of prisoners since the intervention of the bishops.
The clergy were tasked last month with mediating an increasingly bloody confrontation between the opposition and government.
The bishops travelled to the besieged opposition city of Masaya on Thursday “to avoid another massacre” as police and paramilitaries loyal to President Daniel Ortega prepared an assault on opposition-held neighbourhoods of the city.
They said police commissioner Ramon Avellan committed to end attacks by police and pro-Ortega paramilitaries and release those arrested during the protests.
Bayron Hernandez, 16, said he had been beaten on the head with a rifle butt after he was arrested by hooded pro-government paramilitaries.
“They split my head open with an AK [rifle],” he said after he was handed over to a human rights group at Masaya’s San Miguel church.
Evert Padilla, freed from Managua’s El Chipote prison, said he was held on the ground and kicked during an arrest at his home. The 23-year-old spoke after being handed over to Church authorities at Managua Cathedral.
Mr Avellan “told us that he was going to make the call to suspend all harassment” in Masaya, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes said.
“Let’s see if it’s really true,” said Cardinal Brenes, who led the influential bishops’ mission to the flashpoint city with the Vatican’s envoy to Nicaragua Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag.
Masaya has been a focal point of protests aimed at forcing him out of office. Last Monday, it declared itself to be in rebellion against his government.
At least 23 people have been killed in the city since the unrest began.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said on Friday that the death toll during two months of anti-government unrest has risen to 212, faulting Mr Ortega’s government for “serious” human rights violations.
Nicaragua’s descent into chaos began when relatively small protests against nowscrapped social security reforms exploded into a popular uprising against Mr Ortega.
The IACHR presented the report on Friday during a special session of the Washington-based Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States.