Nicaragua: PEN International condemns sentence against journalist Victor Ticay
23 August: On 16 August it was announced that Ticay was sentenced to 8 years in prison, 5 years for the alleged crime of treason and 3 more years for cybercrime, despite international human rights bodies and organisations publicly condemning his detention, and fellow journalists campaigning for his release.
Ticay was arrested on 6 April 2023 in retaliation for reporting on a Catholic celebration on 5 April 2023, through one of his social media channels. The Nicaraguan government has prohibited religious expression in public spaces, and, as evidenced by Ticay’s case, the coverage of such events has become a pretext for prosecuting independent journalists.
On 19 May, the Nicaraguan National Prosecutor’s Office charged the journalist with the alleged crimes of treason and cybercrime. According to available information, he was detained incommunicado and held in legal limbo for more than 40 days. Ticay is a contributor to Canal 10 and director of the website La Portada, where he has extensively documented violations of freedom of expression and press freedom in Nicaragua.
PEN International warns that Ticay may be at risk of losing his nationality due to constitutional reforms, which are part of the authorities’ strategy to force journalists, human rights defenders and activists, among others, into exile, as seen by the deportation to the USA of 222 political prisoners in February this year.
In addition to Ticay, two other journalists have faced prosecution in recent months for allegedly spreading false news. On 3 May, Hazel Zamora, director of Doce Noticias and correspondent for Canal 10, and William Aragón (former correspondent for La Prensa), were arrested and later granted conditional release. In early July, Aragón was denied medical attention at the public Health Centre and at the Juan Antonio Brenes Palacios hospital in Somoto, despite his deteriorating health condition.
The increasing restrictions to freedom of expression in Nicaragua have forced many of the country’s journalists and media workers to go into exile in order to safeguard their physical, professional and emotional well-being. According to reports, on 3 August at least eight journalists were forcibly displaced, including Marcos Medina, a journalist with Radio Corporación and Fuentes Confiables, who, along with his family, was barred from re-entering Nicaragua on 24 July following a trip to the USA.
On 31 March, a report by the UN Group of Experts on Nicaragua detailed the gravity of the assault on human rights in Nicaragua and confirmed the need for continued international monitoring of human rights violations in the country. The report set out evidence of widespread violations perpetrated by the Nicaraguan authorities including killings, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, deportations and politically-motivated persecution, which constitute crimes against humanity. It further concluded that the abuses are the "product of the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions and the destruction of civic space".
Furthermore, on 18 April, on the anniversary of the government repression of people who peacefully took to the streets in 2018 to protest reforms to the social security system, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for the restoration of democracy and access to justice.
PEN International demands the immediate release of Víctor Ticay and the dropping of all charges against him. We also call on the Nicaraguan authorities to suspend the recent constitutional reforms related to the crime of “treason”, as they facilitate the persecution of journalists, writers, cultural workers and citizens who raise their voice to criticize the authorities.
For more information, please contact Alicia Quiñones, Head of the Americas Region, at PEN International, email: [email protected].