TEHRAN, Apr 06 - Nicaragua on Friday released another 50 people jailed for protesting against President Daniel Ortega's government, bringing the number freed since late February to about 200 in a unilateral action separate from a broader deal covering hundreds considered political prisoners.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - However charges were not dropped against the demonstrators, who were accused of "disrupting the public order and attacking the peace in Nicaragua." Instead they were for the most part transferred to a form of house arrest, short of the unrestricted freedom that the opposition has demanded in negotiations with government representatives.
"Being at home I feel free," said freed student protester Franklin Rodrigo Artola García.
"I feel happy to be with my mother, with my father, all my family. ... And I am going to remain in the fight because Nicaragua must be free and it has to be one hundred percent pure, zero corruption, zero murderers."
Opponents of Ortega have said more than 640 people were being held for political reasons, jailed in protests that broke out a year ago against the government. Ortega officials say the actual number is far smaller.
Luís Alvarado, alternative representative from Nicaragua to the Organization of American States, said the prisoner releases are "proof of the commitment of the state and government of Nicaragua with the agreements reached so far" in the talks.
Source: AP
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