human rights defender
Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel
Actions and Campaigns
Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Urgent support needed
Medical assistance
HRD's year of birth
1983
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Social and community leader
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Environmental rights
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
- Land rights
HRD's geographical origin
Rural
Current Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Donald Bruno is a member of the Mayangna Indigenous People of Suniwás. He is also an artisanal miner of a gold vein located near Kiwakumbaih. He is a member of a group of volunteer forest rangers who defend Mother Earth in the Kahka sector (Kibusna, Pisbawas and Alal communities) of the Mayangna Sauni As territory.
Detained since
Aug 12, 2021
Charge(s)
- Other
Sentence
Life in prison
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
The detention of Donald Bruno - together with the other three Mayangna Indigenous Human Rights Defenders (Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino and Dionisio Zacarías) - 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.
Latitude: 12.183632385532936
Longitude: -86.08626466445209
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
Location of detention - City/Town
Tipitapa
Location of detention - Facility
Sistema Penitenciario Jorge Navarro, conocido como Carcel La Modelo
Recent case update / evolution
On 18 February 2022, Donald Bruno 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.
Any other relevant documents
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
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1983
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Social and community leader
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Environmental rights
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
- Land rights
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Donald Bruno is a member of the Mayangna Indigenous People of Suniwás. He is also an artisanal miner of a gold vein located near Kiwakumbaih. He is a member of a group of volunteer forest rangers who defend Mother Earth in the Kahka sector (Kibusna, Pisbawas and Alal communities) of the Mayangna Sauni As territory.
- HRD's geographical origin
- Rural
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Tipitapa
- Location of detention - Facility
- Sistema Penitenciario Jorge Navarro, conocido como Carcel La Modelo
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 12.183632385532936
Longitude: -86.08626466445209
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Aug 12, 2021
- Current Status
- In prison (sentenced)
- Charge(s)
- Other
- Sentence
Life in prison
- Recent case update / evolution
On 18 February 2022, Donald Bruno 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.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
The detention of Donald Bruno - together with the other three Mayangna Indigenous Human Rights Defenders (Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino and Dionisio Zacarías) - 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.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Urgent support needed
Medical assistance
- Any other relevant documents
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
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
sorted by
Date added
4 relationships, 3 entities