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The\u00a0report to the Human Rights Council called on the Government, led by partners in marriage and politics, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, to ensure accountability, restore civic space, and take meaningful measures to guarantee the rights of all Nicaraguans \u2013 including those in exile.<\/p>\n
“Repression and institutional corruption have become the governing method<\/strong> in Nicaragua under the control of the Ortega-Murillo family,” said Jan-Michael Simon, Chair of the Group of Independent Human Rights Experts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPolitical persecution is financed by the State, executed through its institutions, and extended across borders<\/strong> to ensure that no one \u2013 absolutely no one \u2013 stands in the way of the regime.\u201d<\/p>\n Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive documentary evidence, the report documents how since 2018 government funding earmarked for social assistance, cleaning projects, and operational expenses was redirected to fund violent security operations, including the 2018 crackdown on nationwide protests.<\/p>\n \u201cThe misuse and diversion of public resources have directly contributed to the commission of serious human rights violations,\u201d said Reed Brody, member of the Human Rights Council-appointed expert body.<\/p>\n \u201cRepression in Nicaragua is not improvised \u2013 it is structured and corruptly financed,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report details an extensive transnational surveillance and intelligence architecture used to monitor, intimidate and attack hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans who live abroad.<\/p>\n The Government has arbitrarily deprived 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, rendered thousands more exiles by refusing to renew or provide necessary documents, and barred many from re-entering Nicaragua.\u00a0<\/p>\n Others have faced surveillance, harassment, smear campaigns, property confiscations and proxy retaliation against relatives at home.<\/p>\n \u201cThe co-presidents have built an apparatus that hunts down dissents wherever they may be<\/strong>…No-one is beyond the reach of this repressive regime\u201d, Mr. Brody told reporters at the Human Rights Council press conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n At least a dozen cases of killings or attempted killings of exiled critics have been reported<\/strong>, including the June 2025 murder in Costa Rica of retired army major and Government critic Roberto Samcam.<\/p>\n The report documents a multi-layered intelligence structure integrating the army, police, migration authorities, telecommunications regulators, and diplomatic missions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, digital surveillance and harassment, hacking and doxing have all been used to silence critics.<\/p>\n \u201cDiplomatic and consular structures have been instrumentalized to track, monitor and intimidate exiled Nicaraguans,\u201d said Ariela Peralta of the independent expert body.<\/p>\n Another concern has been gender-based rights violations that \u201cform part of a deliberate repressive strategy aimed at punishing women and feminist movements for their long-standing leadership as autonomous political actors,” said Peralta<\/p>\n The report reiterated its\u00a0previous findings that violations committed since 2018 amount, on the face of it, to crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n\u2018Structured and corruptly financed\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Repression beyond borders<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Crimes against humanity\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Urgent\u2019 international accountability\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n