A retired military officer was sentenced to 50 years in prison in Nicaragua for the crime of “treason against the homeland,” his family denounced on Saturday, saying they had not known his whereabouts since he was detained by police in May. Retired captain Aníbal Rivas Reed, 61, “was tried in an arbitrary trial and sentenced to 50 years in prison,” said family members and friends of the former military officer in a statement posted on X.
“Fifty years in prison for ‘treason against the homeland,’ the same homeland that they [the government] desecrate, loot, violate, and expel,” wrote his daughter, Sadie Rivas, on the social network. Rivas Reed’s whereabouts were confirmed on Friday, leading relatives to learn of the sentence. The specific prison was not disclosed in the statement.
The government of co-presidents and spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo maintains tight control over Nicaraguan society following the 2018 opposition protests, which they claimed were a U.S.-backed coup attempt. The crackdown on the demonstrations left over 300 dead, according to the UN.
Rivas Reed was detained on May 17, in the city of Matagalpa in northern Nicaragua. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him precautionary measures on Friday, citing that he “faces a situation of gravity and urgency.” The IACHR resolution noted that the officer’s relatives said a police “official” in Matagalpa informed them he was transferred to a prison in Managua following his arrest.
“We are deeply alarmed that [Rivas Reed] is being held in solitary confinement, locked in a small, completely enclosed cell in total isolation, without the possibility of speaking or going outside into the sunlight,” the family added. “We denounce that prolonged isolation constitutes a cruel, inhuman, and degrading form of punishment, equivalent to torture under international standards,” they stated.
