human rights defender

Nidia Lorena Barboza Castillo

Urgent support needed

(AI Translated) Support for the search for justice

Organization affiliation

  • Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia (ACJD)

HRD's year of birth

1955

HRD's Gender

Woman

Type of HRD

  • Lawyer

HRD's thematic area of engagement

  • Civil and political rights

HRD's geographical origin

Urban

HRD's bio and work

(AI Translated) Lawyer, originally from Nindirí, Masaya, teacher, activist, human rights defender, self‑appointed. She joined the peaceful social protests in April 2018 in response to the reforms of the Nicaraguan Institute of Social Security and the aggression carried out by the National Police and supporters of the ruling party against elderly people who were protesting those reforms. During the presidency of Engineer Enrique Bolaños in Nicaragua, she was deputy director of the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners. She was detained on 6 November 2021 for having posted a prayer titled “for a better Nicaragua” on social media.

Current Status

Released

Detained since

Jun 11, 2021

Date of release

Feb 9, 2023

Charge(s)

  • Spreading fake news
  • Subversion

Sentence

(AI Translated) 11 years imprisonment

Geolocation of detention

Country or area of detention

Region of detention

  • Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean

Location of detention - City/Town

(AI Translated) La Palmera

Location of detention - Facility

(AI Translated) Granada Prison Center

Allegations / reports of ill-treatment

(AI Translated) She was detained without a judicial order and held incommunicado for more than fifteen days without being presented before the judicial authorities, subjected to prolonged interrogations at any hour of the day or night. During the time she remained in the Granada prison, Nicaragua, her health deteriorated, leaving considerable sequelae, compounded by the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment she received from the Granada prison authorities, to the point that on May 19, 2021 she was removed from her cell, transferred to the Amistad Japan‑Nicaragua Hospital in Granada and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition, without the prison authorities notifying her family, and was subsequently returned to the Granada Penitentiary System despite her fragile health, due to the inadequate conditions in which she was kept and without receiving the necessary, timely and adequate medical care to treat her various health afflictions. She was released, exiled on February 9, 2023, and on February 10 the Supreme Court stripped her of her nationality and her assets.

Recent case update / evolution

(AI Translated) Details of the sentence: 11 years imprisonment, disqualification from holding public office, and a fine of 800 days.

Released and expelled to the United States, her Nicaraguan nationality was revoked and the Supreme Court issued a ruling for the seizure of her assets. She is currently exiled in Costa Rica. Her case is being documented to be presented before international human‑rights bodies for the pursuit of justice under international law.

Any other relevant documents

(AI Translated) Precautionary Measures No. 608-22 and No. 625-22, Resolution 47/2022, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2022/res_47-22_mc_608-22%20y%20no.%20625-22%20_ni_es.pdf

IACHR grants precautionary measures to Edder Oniel Muñoz Centeno and Nidia Lorena Barbosa Castillo in Nicaragua https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/jsForm/?File=/es/cidh/prensa/comunicados/2022/216.asp

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