human rights defender
HRD's year of birth
1970
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
HRD's geographical origin
Urban
Current Status
Released
HRD's bio and work
(AI translated) Miguel Ángel Mendoza Urbina, 54, sports journalist, who has worked for major media outlets in Nicaragua since 1992. Elected six times as ‘Sports Reporter of the Year’.
In 2018, he made a decision that changed his life. On 19 April 2018, when demonstrations and social protests broke out in Nicaragua, Mendoza used his Twitter and Facebook accounts, with a total of 144,000 followers, to share news and serve as a reliable source of information, denouncing serious human rights violations and publicising the facts through videos and interviews with victims. For this reason, he was kidnapped, imprisoned, convicted, exiled and denationalised.
In 2023, he was awarded the María Moors Cabot Prize for his contribution to freedom of expression. As part of the Democracy Fellowship Programme in Nicaragua, in October 2024 he conducted and published research on ‘Testimonies of Resilience from Nicaraguans Exiled by the Socio-Political Crisis’, which focused specifically on testimonies from Nicaraguans exiled in the United States and Colombia.
Detained since
Jun 21, 2021
Date of release
Feb 9, 2023
Charge(s)
- Subversion
Sentence
(AI translated) 9 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
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
(AI translated) He was held in a punishment cell for 313 days, where there was no ventilation, only a small window, through which they were given food and occasional medicine. At night, they were woken up constantly, with people banging on the cells along the wall, preventing them from sleeping. In addition, they were given poor food, which caused him to lose almost 20 pounds.
His family spent weeks without knowing anything about him, and he was unable to see his daughter for over a year.
Recent case update / evolution
(AI translated) Exiled and stripped of his nationality and property
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. He was exiled to the United States on 9 February 2023, along with 221 other political prisoners, who were also stripped of their nationality.
He is currently in exile with his wife and daughter, denouncing serious human rights violations on social media and providing information on the situation in Nicaragua.
Any other relevant documents
(AI translated) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Precautionary Measures No. MC 733-21https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2021/res_85-21_mc_733-21_ni_es.pdf
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