IACHR Grants Precautionary Measures in Favor of Carlos Alberto Bojorge Martínez in Nicaragua

March 6, 2024

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 10/2024 on March 6, 2024, to grant precautionary measures in favor of Carlos Alberto Bojorge Martínez in Nicaragua, in the belief that he faces a serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to his rights.

According to the party who requested these precautionary measures, poet and university student Bojorge Martínez—a native of Managua—was arrested by police officers on January 1, 2024, and his fate and whereabouts have been unknown since then. The day he was arrested, Bojorge Martínez had attended mass in Managua's Metropolitan Cathedral. He had been wearing a T-shirt with a depiction of the Virgin Mary and had been carrying a small Nicaraguan flag and a picture of the late Salvadoran bishop Arnulfo Romero, to denounce State persecution against the Roman Catholic Church in Nicaragua. In the evening, he was arrested by police officers who took him to an unknown location, allegedly without the required arrest warrant and without disclosing the reasons for his arrest. Despite the inquiries conducted by his family and others, no information has been provided about his current situation.

The State failed to provide information to prove that the risk factors that had been identified had been adequately mitigated.

After assessing the legal and factual allegations made in the request for these precautionary measures, the IACHR found that Carlos Alberto Bojorge Martínez was at risk, considering that there had been no news about his condition or whereabouts since he was arrested by officers of the State on January 1, 2024, or about the investigations conducted to find him. Consequently, in keeping with Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure, the IACHR asked the State of Nicaragua to take the following action:

1. Adopt any measures necessary to establish the whereabouts and condition of Carlos Alberto Bojorge Martínez, in order to protect his rights to life and personal integrity
2. Report on his current conditions of detention (particularly report on his place of detention and grant his lawyers and family access to him, as well as enabling any healthcare assistance he may require)
3. Report on any actions adopted to investigate the alleged events that gave rise to the adoption of these precautionary measures, in order to prevent such events from happening again in the future

The fact that these precautionary measures have been granted and their adoption by the State do not entail a prejudgment on a potential petition that may be filed before the inter-American system to allege violations of rights protected by the American Convention on Human Rights and other applicable instruments.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 047/24

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