human rights defender
human rights defender
(AI Translated) Psychosocial support, assistance with immigration procedures for exile and obtaining a new nationality, as they have been left stateless as a result of the Supreme Court’s judicial resolution, which announced that the First Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals, Managua Circuit, issued a judicial resolution ordering the loss of Nicaraguan nationality for the 135 people expelled to Guatemala, as well as humanitarian assistance for their subsistence.
1969
Woman
Urban
(AI Translated) Melba Damaris is a psychologist by profession, a feminist activist, and participated in feminist protests at the Central American University (UCA) in previous years, promoting and defending women's rights and advocating for the release of persons deprived of liberty for political reasons; she actively took part in the peaceful demonstrations at the University of Central America (UCA) and also in those that took place on the streets of Managua after the onset of the 2018 political crisis, where she provided humanitarian assistance to young protesters who needed medication, food, or shelter, and transportation.
Released
Aug 28, 2023
May 9, 2024
(AI Translated) 8 years imprisonment
Latitude: 12.156695347062476
Longitude: -86.09295485281102
(AI Translated) Tipitapa
(AI Translated) Comprehensive Women's Penitentiary Establishment (EPIM), better known as “La Esperanza”
(AI Translated) Detained without a judicial order, processed without the minimum guarantees of due process (including communication with her lawyer and access to the judicial file) and imprisoned in inhuman, cruel and degrading conditions that jeopardize her rights to life, personal integrity, health and adequate nutrition. At the time of her arrest in her home, no arrest warrant or search warrant was presented; she was a victim of robbery, mistreatment and assaults, and they placed the drug in a laundry basket and took photographs of her before transferring her to District III of the National Police. The family searched several police units until they located her in District No. III of the National Police of Managua, where they were not allowed to see her; three days later they were informed that she had been transferred to the Integrated Women’s Penitentiary Establishment (EPIM), known as “La Esperanza,” Tipitapa. While she remained in the police unit’s cells, she was interrogated about the support she had provided to three young university activist women who had been detained days earlier and about Free Nicaragua stickers that had been found in her home during the raid. During the judicial process she could not have a lawyer of her choice, remained cut off from her family, which caused serious 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 adequate medical care or access to the necessary medication to treat her hyperthyroidism. Moreover, she rarely had access to the outdoor yard during the year she was incarcerated in the penitentiary system. The Inter‑American Court of Human Rights reported that it was not until February 2024 that her relatives were allowed to give her medication for hyperthyroidism; however, it was not provided regularly, nor were the sleep medications they needed, which were suspended without any reason, severely affecting her physical and emotional health.
(AI Translated) On September 5, 2024, she was released from prison and deported to Guatemala; on September 10, through a communication from the Supreme Court of Justice published in official media, it became known that her nationality had been withdrawn, rendering her stateless, and that her assets were to be confiscated by the State. The following week, while in Guatemala, her family informed her that the Attorney General’s Office had arrived at the residence to notify the occupants that the property was being transferred to the State. As of the date of this report, she was undertaking procedures to manage her exile.
(AI Translated) Precautionary Measures No. 1022-23 and 1025-23, Resolution 89/2023, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2023/res_89-23_mc_1022-23_1025-23_ni_es.pdf
CSJ reports on a judicial ruling ordering the loss of Nicaraguan nationality for 135 people https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:155666-csj-informa-sobre-resolucion-judicial-ordenando-la-perdida-de-la-nacionalidad-nicaraguense-a-135-personas
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