Nicaragua: Four Mayangna leaders and foresters imprisoned for defending and protecting their ancestral land

Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino, Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel and Dionisio Robins Zacarías don’t only share their common indigenous origins as members of the Mayangna people, but also a strong commitment to the protection of their ancestral land. Before their arbitrary detention in 2021, the four men from Nicaragua were leaders and volunteer foresters in the Mayangna Sauni As community, on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Their work was vital in the protection of the forests and of Mother Earth against the rising external threats.

Indigenous communities in Nicaragua are facing a very difficult situation due to the invasion of non-indigenous settlers. Their lands have been invaded by criminal groups mainly composed of demobilized ex-military personnel from the Army and the Nicaraguan resistance of the 1980s, with state support.

The attack of the Kiwakumbaih mine

It’s in this context that on 23 August 2021, a group of armed man surrounded Kiwakumbaih mine and started attacking the 37 indigenous persons from the Miskitu and Mayangans’ communitites that where working in the area. During the massacre, several people were murdered and some women were sexually assaulted.

Even though the victims have repeatdly declared that the massacre was perpatrated by a group of non-indigenous men, the National Police accused 14 members of the indigenous people mayangna. Several of them are volunteer foresters and defenders of indigenous land, among whom we can find the brothers Celso Lino, M. Bruno Arcángel and M. Robins Zacarías.

The arrests of the four defenders were carried out without a court order at the time of their arrest, nor were the detainees informed of the reason for the arrest, nor were they informed of their right to have recourse to a lawyer or an interpreter, as their mother tongue is not Spanish.

Enforced dissapearance and arbitrary detention

After being missing for several months, on 18 February 2022, they were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nicaraguan authorities, who also, before being sentenced, presented the indigenous leaders in a press conference with national coverage “as the material and intellectual authors of the crimes...”, violating their presumption of innocence.

Currently, the defenders continue to be arbitrarily detained in the “Jorge Navarro” Penitentiary Center, also known as “La Modelo”. They are in a serious situation and at risk of suffering irreparable damage to their physical and mental integrity, their lives are threatened; since they arrived in the prison system in December 2021, they have been held incommunicado, for long periods chained in inhuman and degrading conditions, victims of torture, cruel treatment and threats that have resulted in physical and sexual assaults. They have been denied medical attention, despite their extremely delicate state of health. In addition, custodians and other inmates - common prisoners - mistreat them when they speak Mayangna among themselves.

Intervention of the International Mechanisms

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), through Resolution 20/23 issued on 13 April 2023, granted precautionary measures in favour of the four indigenous authorities and leaders; however, the State did not take any measures to protect their lives.

On 27 June 2023 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court) ordered the State of Nicaragua to release them by 10 July 2023, the regime ignored the IACHR Court's order. In addition, on 30 August 2024 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued Opinion 30/2024 stating, among other things, that the State of Nicaragua should release and grant compensation to the four TMSA authorities and community forest rangers.

Please, join us in calling for the release of Ignacio Celso Lino, Argüello Celso Lino, Donald Andrés Bruno Arcángel and Dionisio Robins Zacarías!