human rights defender
Melba Damaris Hernández de Díaz
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Urgent support needed
(AI translated) Psychosocial support, assistance with migration procedures for their exile and to obtain a new nationality, as they have been left in a state of statelessness as a result of the judicial resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice, which revealed that the First Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals, Circumscription Managua, issued a judicial resolution ordering the loss of Nicaraguan nationality to the 135 exiles in Guatemala, as well as humanitarian support for their survival.
HRD's year of birth
1969
HRD's Gender
Woman
Type of HRD
- Academic
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Women's rights
HRD's geographical origin
Urban
Current Status
Released
HRD's bio and work
(AI translated) Melba Damaris is a psychologist by profession, a feminist activist, and took part in feminist protests at the Central American University (UCA) in previous years. She is a promoter and defender of women's rights and advocated for the release of political prisoners. She actively participated in the peaceful demonstrations of the University of Central America (UCA) and also in those that took place in the streets of Managua after the start of the 2018 political crisis, providing humanitarian assistance to young protesters who needed medicine, food, or lodging.
Detained since
Aug 28, 2023
Date of release
May 9, 2024
Sentence
(AI translated) 8 years of prison
Latitude: 12.102018510793444
Longitude: -86.24679565429688
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
Recent case update / evolution
(AI translated) On September 5, 2024, she was released from prison and deported to Guatemala. On September 10, through an official statement by the Supreme Court of Justice published in pro-government media, she learned that her nationality had been revoked, making her stateless, and that her assets would be confiscated by the State. The following week, while in Guatemala, her family informed her that the Attorney General's Office had gone to her home to notify its inhabitants that the property was now in the hands of the State. As of the date of this report, she was in the process of managing her exile.
Any other relevant documents
(AI translated) Cautionary Measures No. 1022-23 and 1025-23, Resolution 89/2023, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights https://www.oas.org/en/cidh/decisions/mc/2023/res_89-23_mc_1022-23_1025-23_en.pdf
CSJ provides information on judicial resolution ordering the loss of Nicaraguan nationality for 135 people https://www.el19digital.com/articles/view/title:155666-csj-provides-information-on-judicial-resolution-ordering-the-loss-of-nicaraguan-nationality-for-135-people
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1969
- HRD's Gender
- Woman
- Type of HRD
- Academic
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Women's rights
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
(AI translated) Melba Damaris is a psychologist by profession, a feminist activist, and took part in feminist protests at the Central American University (UCA) in previous years. She is a promoter and defender of women's rights and advocated for the release of political prisoners. She actively participated in the peaceful demonstrations of the University of Central America (UCA) and also in those that took place in the streets of Managua after the start of the 2018 political crisis, providing humanitarian assistance to young protesters who needed medicine, food, or lodging.
- HRD's geographical origin
- Urban
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Managua
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 12.102018510793444
Longitude: -86.24679565429688
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Aug 28, 2023
- Current Status
- Released
- Date of release
- May 9, 2024
- Charge(s)
- Other
- Sentence
(AI translated) 8 years of prison
- Recent case update / evolution
(AI translated) On September 5, 2024, she was released from prison and deported to Guatemala. On September 10, through an official statement by the Supreme Court of Justice published in pro-government media, she learned that her nationality had been revoked, making her stateless, and that her assets would be confiscated by the State. The following week, while in Guatemala, her family informed her that the Attorney General's Office had gone to her home to notify its inhabitants that the property was now in the hands of the State. As of the date of this report, she was in the process of managing her exile.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
(AI translated) Detained without a court order, processed without providing the minimum guarantees of due process (including communication with her lawyer and access to the judicial file), and imprisoned under inhuman, cruel, and degrading conditions that jeopardize their rights to life, personal integrity, health, and adequate food. At the time of her arrest at her home, she was not shown an arrest warrant or a search warrant for her residence; she was a victim of theft and ill-treatment and aggression, where they placed the drug in a basket of clothes and took her photograph before transferring her to District III of the National Police. Her family searched several police units until they located her at District No. III of the National Police of Managua, where they did not allow them to see her. Three days later, they were informed that she had been transferred to the Women's Comprehensive Penitentiary System (EPIM), known as "La Esperanza," in Tipitapa. During her time in police custody, she was interrogated about the support she had provided to three university activist students who had been detained in the previous days and about some Free Nicaragua bumper stickers found in her home during the search. During the judicial process, she did not have access to a lawyer of her choice and was denied communication with her family, which led to severe health problems, anxiety, and depression. She was subjected to prolonged isolation, a practice that has had devastating effects on her mental health, increasing levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, without receiving proper medical attention or access to the medications needed to treat her hyperthyroidism. Similarly, she had very few opportunities to access the sun during her year of confinement in the penitentiary system. The Inter-American Court on Human Rights reported that it was not until February 2024 that her family was allowed to deliver medications for her hyperthyroidism; however, these were not provided regularly, and the medications she needed to sleep were suspended without any reason, severely affecting her physical and emotional health.
- Urgent support needed
(AI translated) Psychosocial support, assistance with migration procedures for their exile and to obtain a new nationality, as they have been left in a state of statelessness as a result of the judicial resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice, which revealed that the First Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals, Circumscription Managua, issued a judicial resolution ordering the loss of Nicaraguan nationality to the 135 exiles in Guatemala, as well as humanitarian support for their survival.
- Any other relevant documents
(AI translated) Cautionary Measures No. 1022-23 and 1025-23, Resolution 89/2023, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights https://www.oas.org/en/cidh/decisions/mc/2023/res_89-23_mc_1022-23_1025-23_en.pdf
CSJ provides information on judicial resolution ordering the loss of Nicaraguan nationality for 135 people https://www.el19digital.com/articles/view/title:155666-csj-provides-information-on-judicial-resolution-ordering-the-loss-of-nicaraguan-nationality-for-135-people
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
3 relationships, 2 entities