Nicaragua: Political Prisoner Prof. Freddy Quezada Isolated
and convicted of the fabricated charge of “Incitement to Hatred”
It has been 87 days since the detention of the university professor, who has not even been seen by the court-appointed lawyer and who was found guilty in a virtual trial.
HAVANA TIMES – University professor and philosopher Freddy Antonio Quezada was found guilty of the crime of “incitement to hatred” in a virtual trial. This Saturday marks one month since that trial, which human rights organizations consider illegal.
Quezada was abducted on November 29, 2023, for criticizing the Ortega dictatorship on his social media.
“Today marks one month and we have not received any notification, even though my family members have gone to the Public Defender’s Office and have spoken with the lawyer, but there is no resolution,” Adriana Quezada, the professor’s daughter told 100% Noticias.
According to the dictatorship, the university lecturer incited hatred through two posts he made on his Facebook wall.
“We assume it’s a post he made about Monseñor Alvarez when they exhibited him at the Modelo prison, and the next day they came for him,” says his daughter.
It has been 87 days since the detention of the university professor, a sociologist by profession, who will turn 65 on March 21. This is his second political imprisonment; the first one was in the 1970s for criticizing another dictator, Anastasio Somoza.
“My dad has . a lecturer, a sociologist by profession since I can remember. He worked at the Central American University (UCA), at Upoli, at UAM, at Paulo Freire, and his last job was at UNAN, where he taught Philology and Communication for about 10 years. He was dismissed in 2018 due to his political opinions,” explains Adriana, Quezada’s youngest daughter.
Adriana lives in Panama, from where she reports on the arbitrariness committed by the Ortega regime against her father.
“My father suffers from diabetes and although he does not depend on insulin, he must follow a special diet. He is deaf in one ear, and in the last five years, he has undergone several surgeries,” she said.
Quezada’s family has not seen him physically; they have not been allowed visits to the Tipitapa penitentiary where he is apparently being held, because that is where the trial via Zoom took place. A practice that has already been used with other political prisoners like youth leader Jason Salazar.
“According to the words of the same court-appointed defense lawyer, he hasn’t even seen him, he doesn’t know who he is, I don’t know how he is defending him. We assume that he is in that prison but no one confirms it. We went to the Interior Ministry to request authorization for a family visit and have not received any response and it was only from the Public Defender’s Office where we found out about the trial,” Quezada’s daughter noted.
In the Modelo prison, officials have not received any packages for the professor nor medicines, so they fear he is in isolation.
“We know nothing about his health conditions. This means they have him isolated, that’s what we assume. Simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression. My dad is a philosopher, an active figure in debates, analysis, and writing. They have him locked up without a case number, there is no case file number, it would seem unreal. It’s the world upside down because even real criminals are allowed contact with their families, why not him?” reproached Adriana Quezada.
She added, “we are dismayed by his basic human conditions, very worried about his health, this will have an impact on his physical, even mental condition, and that’s what worries us a lot,” said Adriana Quezada, who regrets that the precautionary measures dictated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in favor of her father are not being respected and were ignored by the Nicaraguan State.
Quezada’s forced disappearance denounced
On February 15, the Legal Defense Unit group denounced the intensification of repressive patterns in the arbitrary detentions perpetrated by the Nicaraguan State during the last six months (August 2023 – January 2024) against people deprived of their liberty for political reasons.
The organization noted the increase in “enforced disappearances” in the last quarter and highlighted the most recent cases: those of Broklyn Rivera (September 29, 2023), Freddy Quezada (November 29, 2023), and Carlos Bojorge (January 1, 2024).
“In all three cases, the authorities have refused to provide information about their whereabouts. All communication between the detainees and their relatives or lawyers has been prevented. Thus, there is no certainty about their detention conditions, nor verification of their health status,” the report states.
As part of an extension of psychological torture to the relatives, “prison officials” recommend searching for political detainees “in morgues,” increasing their anguish, which constitutes another form of torture,” the document adds.