A Nicaraguan lawyer and Catholic lay leader has died while in state custody, making him the second political prisoner to perish in detention within a week.
Dr Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda, a member of Bella Cruz Parish in Ciudad Sandino, was arbitrarily detained on 13th August and held incommunicado until his death on 29th August.
His wife was later told to collect his sealed coffin from the Institute of Legal Medicine and was ordered to bury him immediately, without a funeral or a death certificate.
The 57-year-old had a long history of harassment by authorities.
He was previously kidnapped in 2018, tortured during detention, stripped of his law degree, and left unemployed.
In 2023 he was charged under laws targeting supposed “cybercrime” and “national sovereignty violations,” which required him to report daily to police.
According to Infobae, Dr Cárdenas is the sixth political prisoner to die in custody since 2019.
CSW’s Director of Advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, said: “CSW extends our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Dr Cárdenas Zepeda, the second political prisoner to have died within the space of a week while in the custody of the Nicaraguan government.
"We call on the authorities to allow for an independent investigation into the cause of death of Dr Cárdenas and all other prisoners who have similarly died while detained, including Mauricio Alonso Prieto.”
She added: “Those who are responsible for their deaths must be held to account. We urge members of the international community to press for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Nicaragua.”