June 12, 2023
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) joined the public campaign of independent journalists in Nicaragua demanding the release of their colleague Víctor Ticay, who was unjustly imprisoned by the Daniel Ortega regime for over two months.
Ticay, 31, was arrested on April 6, 2023, after having reported during Holy Week on a religious procession through his Facebook account. In an arbitrary trial without judicial guarantees that took place in the early hours of the morning and without the right to defense, the Canal 10 correspondent and director of the digital page La Portada was found guilty on June 9 for the crimes of "propagation of fake news" and "undermining national integrity."
Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Lucía Pineda Ubau, Gerall Chávez, Cristopher Mendoza, Luis Galeano, Sergio Marín, Elmer Rivas, Martha Irene Sánchez, José Cardoza, and Ulises Mendieta are some of the Nicaraguan communicators who demand Ticay's release through a video broadcast on social media.
"This is a crime against freedom of the press and freedom of expression that seeks to silence Nicaraguans, to prevent them from having the right to inform, the right to freedom of conscience," said Chamorro, director of Confidencial, in the video.
Galeano, director of Café Con Voz, said: "Informing is not a crime, nor should it be a crime, especially when it is about telling the truth about the outrages and abuses of a criminal and bloody dictatorship such as that of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo."
On June 1, 20 journalists' organizations across the region issued a statement condemning the accusations against Ticay and calling for his release. They also urged Nicaraguan authorities to "put an end to the repression against dissident voices in Nicaragua."
Last April, the IAPA's Nicaragua report highlighted that more than 185 communicators had been forced into exile since 2018. A resolution stated that: "the regime expelled and stripped the nationality of 222 political prisoners, among them several journalists, and also denied the nationality of other journalists who remain in the country; 21 were forced into exile, four media and 51 journalists were attacked," since October 2022.
