U.N. experts say Nicaragua is using international systems and domestic power to repress opponents, urge ICJ referral

Jan Michael Simon, chair of the Group of Experts on Nicaragua appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, told reporters that the Ortega-Murillo government has combined use and abuse of international mechanisms with a domestic crackdown to evade scrutiny and persecute opponents.

"The goal is to avoid scrutiny and accountability while continuing to perpetrate human rights violations," Simon said, describing what he called a dual strategy in which Nicaraguan authorities "have been leveraging Interpol and the money laundering and counter financing and terrorism...frameworks to persecute transnationally opponents." (Transcript: 00:00:51–00:03:37.)

Ariela Peralta DeStefano, an expert with the group, said a phase of repression that began in 2023 is aimed at consolidating executive control through simultaneous mass arrests and prolonged incommunicado detention. "We have documented at least 74 cases of enforced disappearances. In 27 of these cases, the individuals remain…