human rights defender
Medardo Mairena Sequeira
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Organization affiliation
- Movimiento Campesino Unido
HRD's year of birth
1978
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Peasant leader
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Environmental rights
- Land rights
HRD's geographical origin
Urban
Current Status
Released
HRD's bio and work
(AI translated) Medardo Mairena Sequeira is the founder and coordinator of the Nicaraguan anti-canal peasant movement since 2013 and an active opposition leader who mobilised thousands of peasants in defence of their territories and later joined the social protests that took place from April to September 2018. He was a member of the National Dialogue between protesters and Daniel Ortega's government, mediated by the Catholic Church.
Two months later, he was arrested and prosecuted for terrorism, sentenced to 261 years in prison, and served one year before being released under an amnesty law.
Mairena was one of the opposition's pre-candidates in the November general elections, but he was arrested again on 5 July 2021, released from prison on 9 February 2023, exiled and stripped of his nationality and assets. He currently lives in exile, where he has dedicated himself to strengthening the structure of the Peasant Movement and maintaining international activism by denouncing the human rights situation in Nicaragua, exposing the ‘struggle and resistance’ of the peasants to the international community, and making constant calls for the unification of the different social and political sectors to achieve the democratisation of the country.
Detained since
Jul 5, 2021
Date of release
Feb 9, 2023
Charge(s)
- Subversion
Sentence
(AI translated) 13 years in prison
Latitude: 12.096942985994628
Longitude: -86.2812758311463
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
Location of detention - City/Town
Managua
Location of detention - Facility
Dirección de Auxilio Judicial «Evaristo Vásquez» conocido como el Nuevo Chipote
Recent case update / evolution
(AI translated) Exiled and stripped of his nationality and property.
He was imprisoned twice (2018 and 2021). On his first arrest, he received a symbolic sentence of 216 years in prison for his participation in civic protests, being released under the Amnesty Law and detained again.
On 10/02/23, a judicial notification was sent to the defence declaring him a traitor to the country and stripping him of his civil rights.
Any other relevant documents
(AI translated) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Precautionary Measures No. 1172-18 https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/pdf/2018/80-18mc1172-18-ni.pdf
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1978
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Peasant leader
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Environmental rights
- Land rights
- Organization affiliation
- Movimiento Campesino Unido
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
(AI translated) Medardo Mairena Sequeira is the founder and coordinator of the Nicaraguan anti-canal peasant movement since 2013 and an active opposition leader who mobilised thousands of peasants in defence of their territories and later joined the social protests that took place from April to September 2018. He was a member of the National Dialogue between protesters and Daniel Ortega's government, mediated by the Catholic Church.
Two months later, he was arrested and prosecuted for terrorism, sentenced to 261 years in prison, and served one year before being released under an amnesty law.
Mairena was one of the opposition's pre-candidates in the November general elections, but he was arrested again on 5 July 2021, released from prison on 9 February 2023, exiled and stripped of his nationality and assets. He currently lives in exile, where he has dedicated himself to strengthening the structure of the Peasant Movement and maintaining international activism by denouncing the human rights situation in Nicaragua, exposing the ‘struggle and resistance’ of the peasants to the international community, and making constant calls for the unification of the different social and political sectors to achieve the democratisation of the country.
- 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
- Location of detention - Facility
- Dirección de Auxilio Judicial «Evaristo Vásquez» conocido como el Nuevo Chipote
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 12.096942985994628
Longitude: -86.2812758311463
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Jul 5, 2021
- Current Status
- Released
- Date of release
- Feb 9, 2023
- Charge(s)
- Subversion
- Sentence
(AI translated) 13 years in prison
- Recent case update / evolution
(AI translated) Exiled and stripped of his nationality and property.
He was imprisoned twice (2018 and 2021). On his first arrest, he received a symbolic sentence of 216 years in prison for his participation in civic protests, being released under the Amnesty Law and detained again.
On 10/02/23, a judicial notification was sent to the defence declaring him a traitor to the country and stripping him of his civil rights.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
(AI translated) Confined to a punishment cell, weight loss (53 lbs), subjected to constant and exhausting interrogations.
- Any other relevant documents
(AI translated) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Precautionary Measures No. 1172-18 https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/pdf/2018/80-18mc1172-18-ni.pdf
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
3 relationships, 2 entities