MANAGUA, March 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Eight jailed opponents of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have been on hunger strike for a week in protest at being used as “a bargaining chip,” the father of one of the detainees said.
They were among more than 750 people detained for taking part in anti-
government demonstrations last year — during a political crisis that also
left 325 dead between April and October after a crackdown by
authorities.
Frederic Coppens, the Belgian father of detained Amaya Coppens, said he
found out on Wednesday that his daughter and her seven cellmates “began a hunger strike a week ago.”
He said it had taken that long for the prisoners to communicate with him
secretly. They are “protesting against being used as a bargaining chip in the
process of political negotiations,” he added.
Talks between Ortega’s government and the opposition began on Feb 27
in a bid to find a solution to the crisis. Previous peace talks that began
last May broke down a month later after Ortega rejected a key opposition
demand to stand down and bring forward presidential elections.
Before the new round of talks, due to last until March 28, the government
released dozens of prisoners held during the six months of protests last
year, although no prominent opposition leaders were among them.
That was the same day the eight began their hunger strike.
Amaya Coppens, a 24-year-old medical student, was arrested in September
and is accused of terrorism and other offences under a controversial law that bans protests.
Her father has asked Belgian authorities for diplomatic help to get his
daughter seen to by “independent doctors.”
The mothers of the hunger strikers, meanwhile, demanded the liberation of
political prisoners in a press conference in the capital Managua on Thursday.
They asked for the Red Cross to intervene on their behalf so a doctor can
visit their daughters. — NNN-AGENCIES
