Citizenship of Peace Award laureate Vilma Núñez revoked – schwelle Foundation protests

On February 15, the Nicaraguan state revoked the nationality and citizenship rights "for life" of 94 Nicaraguans accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the alleged crime of "treason". This is according to decisions issued by the judges of the criminal chambers of the Managua district.

Among those affected is the president of the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights, Vilma Núñez, who received the 2019 Bremen International Peace Award from the schwelle Foundation for her commitment to human rights in Nicaragua. Also on the list are the director of CONFIDENCIAL, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, and his wife Desirée Elizondo, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, the writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, and the former commander of the FSLN's National Directorate in the 1980s, Luis Carrión; former guerrilla Mónica Baltodano, former foreign minister Norman Caldera, former ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS) Arturo McFields, former prosecutor Yader Morazán and former deputy Eliseo Núñez Morales, to name a few.

The judges of the Criminal Chamber ordered "all properties and companies that the accused have registered in their favour, either personally, as legal entities or as companies in which they are partners, to be shut down and seized for the benefit of the Nicaraguan state in order to hold the accused accountable for the crimes committed".

With this step, the Nicaraguan government is violating the American Convention on Human Rights, to which it is also a signatory, Article 20 of which states that everyone has the right to a nationality and that no one may be arbitrarily deprived of it. We call on the Nicaraguan government to withdraw the accusations against the 94 people and to return their citizenship rights and property to them.

The full list of people affected can be seen here: Confidencial

The schwelle Foundation has protested against this measure to various authorities, including the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, Luise Amtsberg, the Nicaraguan Ambassador in Berlin, Tatiana Daniela García Silva, and the German Ambassador to Nicaragua, Dr Christoph Bundscherer.

It is helpful to have a large public against these measures, therefore further protest letters from different people and organisations are welcome.

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Peace Award Winner 2019: Vilma Núñez

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