human rights defender
Dionisio Robins Zacarías
Actions and Campaigns
human rights defender
Actions and Campaigns
Medical assistance
1968
Man
Rural
In prison (sentenced)
Dionisio Zacarías is a member of the Mayangna Indigenous People of Suniwás. He has been an activist for the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, which has traditionally formed part of the opposition to the Sandinista National Liberation Front. He is a member of a group of volunteer forest rangers who defend Mother Earth in the Mayangna Sauni As territory.
Aug 12, 2021
Life in prison
Latitude: 12.183632385532936
Longitude: -86.08626466445209
Tipitapa
Sistema Penitenciario Jorge Navarro, conocido como Carcel La Modelo
On 18 February 2022, Dionisio Zacarías was sentenced to life imprisonment on trumped up charges of being one of the material and intellectual authors of the attack that occurred on 23 August 2021 at the Kiwakumbaih mine, during which several people were murdered and some women were sexually assaulted.
Opinion adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention No. 30/2024, A/HRC/WGAD/2024/30: https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/WGAD/2024/30
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Resolución 20/2023, Medidas Cautelares No. 738-22, D.R.Z., D.A.B.A., A.C.L. e I.C.L. respecto de Nicaragua, 13 de abril de 2023: https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2023/res_20-23_mc_738-22_ni_es.pdf
Resolución de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de 27 de Junio de 2023, Adopción de Medidas Provisionales, Asunto Cuatro Indígenas Mayangna Privados de Libertad, Respecto de Nicaragua: https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/medidas/cuatroindigenas_se_01.pdf
Documented by

Dionisio Zacarías is a member of the Mayangna Indigenous People of Suniwás. He has been an activist for the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, which has traditionally formed part of the opposition to the Sandinista National Liberation Front. He is a member of a group of volunteer forest rangers who defend Mother Earth in the Mayangna Sauni As territory.
Latitude: 12.183632385532936
Longitude: -86.08626466445209
Life in prison
On 18 February 2022, Dionisio Zacarías was sentenced to life imprisonment on trumped up charges of being one of the material and intellectual authors of the attack that occurred on 23 August 2021 at the Kiwakumbaih mine, during which several people were murdered and some women were sexually assaulted.
The detention of Dionisio Zacarías - together with the other three Mayangna Indigenous Human Rights Defenders (Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino and Donald Bruno) - were carried out without a judicial order at the time of their arrest. They were not informed of the reason for their arrest nor of their right to seek a lawyer or an interpreter, since their native language is not Spanish.
Following arrest, the four defenders remained unreachable for several months and were denied access to a trusted lawyer.
Since 2022, family members have only been allowed to speak with them for five to ten minutes through a glass window, using mobile phones provided by prison guards, without being allowed to touch or hug them.
As of August 2025, the four defenders continue to be arbitrarily detained in the “Jorge Navarro” Penitentiary Center, also known as “La Modelo”. They are in a serious situation and at risk of suffering irreparable damage to their physical and mental integrity; their lives are threatened. Since they arrived in the prison system in December 2021, they have been held incommunicado for long periods, chained in inhuman and degrading conditions, subjected to torture, cruel treatment and threats that have resulted in physical and sexual assaults. They have been denied medical attention, despite their extremely delicate state of health. In addition, custodians and other inmates - common prisoners - mistreat them when they speak Mayangna among themselves.
Medical assistance
Opinion adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention No. 30/2024, A/HRC/WGAD/2024/30: https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/WGAD/2024/30
Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Resolución 20/2023, Medidas Cautelares No. 738-22, D.R.Z., D.A.B.A., A.C.L. e I.C.L. respecto de Nicaragua, 13 de abril de 2023: https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2023/res_20-23_mc_738-22_ni_es.pdf
Resolución de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de 27 de Junio de 2023, Adopción de Medidas Provisionales, Asunto Cuatro Indígenas Mayangna Privados de Libertad, Respecto de Nicaragua: https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/medidas/cuatroindigenas_se_01.pdf