State Workers in Nicaragua have been “Kidnapped”
Former prosecutors and judicial workers admit that the actions of Ortega’s police, judges and prosecutors are “unconstitutional” and “immoral.”
HAVANA TIMES – “Moises” has worked for 12 years as a prosecutor. To him it is evident that the actions of the police, prosecutors and judges are “totally” controlled by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. Although he has not been directly in charge of political trials against citizens considered opponents, he recognizes that “pressures are great” for public officials.
Therefore, he is not surprised that the Collective of Former Officials and Former Prosecutors of Nicaragua reported last weekend that the arrests of Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, several priests and the rest of the political prisoners in Nicaragua have been “arbitrary” and put in evidence the “transgression” of the Police, prosecutors and judges, which could be grounds for sanctions, because their actions go against the Nicaraguan Constitution itself.
“This is something we all know, including those who are acting against the laws. Many wished not to have to do it, but they are forced to do it. I don’t mean to say that all feel the same level of guilt, because there are even those who enjoy punishing political prisoners,” notes this public official.
In their statement, the former public servants note that the arbitrary detentions “have been committed to restrict the exercise of civil rights contained in our Constitution, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and International Treaties ratified by the Nicaraguan State.”
“Detention can only be decreed within a criminal process with guarantees and by a duly substantiated judicial order. Thus, the deprivation of liberty and personal restriction that violates the specific function of the Police also violates the Constitution and criminal laws,” states the Collective in its public statement.
“Lesbia,” a Judicial Branch worker, believes that all public servants “know that their actions are unconstitutional, because there is no legal basis to justify these political trials, but it is also immoral that people be convicted for crimes that they have evidently not committed.”
“The great majority of Judicial workers know that civil service has been kidnapped by the Ortega-Murillo and that whatever they want to be done is done. When someone deviates from the script they impose, he or she is cruelly punished,” she says.
There is no objectivity or legality
The statement of the former officials points out that the Prosecutors’ Office “has failed to act in accordance with the principles of objectivity and legality established in articles 5 and 6 of the Law of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” which states that their activity must be autonomous and free.
They also criticized that “they have consciously acted in the criminalization of conducts that do not constitute a crime.” “They have violated the principles of legality, justice, proportionality, equity, and the universal principles that guarantee the protection of human rights of accused persons. Therefore, the officials involved incur in criminal, civil and administrative responsibilities,” they emphasized.
“Moises” expressed that the statement “did not generate discussion among public servants,” but he believes “that at the individual level many have to reflect on what they are doing.”
“It is a constant reflection. Increasingly more people are opening their eyes to how the regime’s actions are screwing all those who today serve them. That is why many of those who are signing this statement are former workers who fled from the pressures they were receiving,” he says.
Judges’ infractions
Regarding the judges and magistrates of the Judicial System, the former officials state that these “have forgotten the legal imperative of their public function, which is subordinated to the Constitution and the ordinary laws that impose duties and obligations on them to guarantee the application of effective justice.
“Judges and magistrates have incurred not only in infractions related to the exercise of their positions, but have also violated the criminal procedural norm by ignoring the rules of due process, by impeding the free exercise of the defense, hiding information of trials and hearings, and omitting their duty to ensure access of medical care for those deprived of liberty in a prompt and timely way,” they list in the statement.
“Lesbia” says it is a “great truth” that the judicial system “has violated every principle of professional independence and it has become evident that its only interest is to harm the accused.”
“Some people have been punished for supposedly using social networks when it has been proven that they don’t even have social networks or smartphones,” she stressed.
“The worst thing is that now they are accusing people only because they are relatives of someone who is a dissident, when it is evident that there is no evidence against them. However, since the trials are behind closed doors, and both the defense lawyers and the prosecutors are on the same side, the result is conviction,” she deplores.