What changed

B100292/2026

B100314/2026

European Parliament resolution on political prisoners in Nicaragua –- the cases of Carlos Brenes, Salvadora del Socorro Martínez Aburto and Brooklyn Rivera

(2026/2765(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to itsRule previous150 resolutionsof onits Nicaragua,Rules of Procedure,

having regard to Rules 150(5) and 136(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) reports of February and March 2026,

whereas since 2018, the Ortega-Murillo regime has dismantled democratic institutions, the separation of powers and the rule of law, while persecuting political opponents, journalists, students, clergy, indigenous leaders, human-rights defenders, civil society, relatives of critics;

A. whereas the GHREN has concluded that the Ortega-Murillo regime is committing crimes against humanity; whereas the 2025 constitutional reform abolished political pluralism, removed the prohibition of torture and concentrated power in the co-presidency;

whereas the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua concluded that serious violations committed since 2018 may amount to crimes against humanity; whereas civic space has been all but closed: over 5600 NGOs dissolved, independent media and universities shut down, and hundreds of thousands forced into exile;

B. whereas Carlos Ramón Brenes Sánchez, a 71-year-old retired army colonel, was first detained in 2018 for civic protest participation, subjected to torture and family threats, and released in 2019; whereas he and his wife Salvadora del Socorro Martínez Aburto were re-arrested in August 2025 and remain forcibly disappeared as of June 2026; whereas the Inter-American Court of Human Rights documented in April 2026 that Brenes is held in solitary confinement and denied medication despite insulin-dependent diabetes;

whereas human-rights organisations, including the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, continue to document arbitrary arrests, prolonged incommunicado detention and enforced disappearances; whereas the UN reported in October 2025 that over 120 persons have been forcibly disappeared since 2018;

C. whereas Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, Miskito leader, YATAMA founder, and former legislator, was arrested in September 2023 after speaking at a UN Indigenous peoples forum; whereas the regime concealed his detention for fourteen months, acknowledging it only under international; whereas Brooklyn Rivera died in custody on 30 May 2026;

whereas Carlos Ramón Brenes Sánchez, a retired Sandinista colonel, and his wife Salvadora del Socorro Martínez Aburto, both elderly and in poor health, were detained in August 2025, held incommunicado and reportedly sentenced to 15 years for “treason” without due process;

D. whereas since 2018 approximately 80% of civil society organisations have been closed and at least 546 individuals arbitrarily stripped of their nationality; whereas the GHREN documented a State-financed transnational surveillance network targeting Nicaraguans abroad, including killings of exiled critics;

whereas Brooklyn Rivera, Miskitu Indigenous leader and president of the arbitrarily dissolved Yatama party, was detained in September 2023, held in enforced disappearance for over 32 months and died in State custody on 30 May 2026;

E. whereas Nicaragua has withdrawn from five UN agencies and the Human Rights Council to evade accountability;

Strongly condemns the Ortega-Murillo regime's systematic use of repression, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, shamrepression trials,and exile,crimes denationalisationagainst andhumanity confiscationcommitted ofby propertythe againstOrtega-Murillo opponents;regime;

Demands immediate and unconditional release of Carlos Brenes, Salvadora Martínez and all political prisoners, the annulment of politically motivated convictions, and full information on their fate, whereabouts, health and detention conditions;

Condemns the death of Brooklyn Rivera in state custody; demands an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation, full accountability for those responsible;

Urges the authorities to grant all detainees access to their families, lawyers, medical care and international monitoring, in accordance with the Nelson Mandela Rules;

Condemns the 15-year sentences imposed on Brenes and Martínez Aburto without due process; demands immediate proof of life, disclosure of their whereabouts, access to medication, access for their lawyers to all case files, and their unconditional release;

Calls for a prompt, independent and international investigation into Brooklyn Rivera’s death in custody, the return of his remains to his family and accountability for those responsible;

Demands Nicaragua immediately comply with all IACtHR rulings; calls on the UN Human Rights Council to sustain the GHREN mandate and consider ICC referral;

Condemns the persecution of Christian churches, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, opponents and their relatives, and calls for the reinstatement of all arbitrarily dissolved organisations;

Urges the Council and EEAS to strengthen targeted EU sanctions against officials identified by the GHREN as responsible for crimes against humanity;

Calls on the EU to ensure that no EU or multilateral funds strengthen the regime, to expand targeted sanctions against those responsible, including judges, prosecutors and prison officials;

Demands Nicaragua cease all transnational repression, including surveillance, passport denial, misuse of INTERPOL mechanisms, and retaliation against relatives of exiles;

Calls on the Member States to support accountability, including through universal jurisdiction and international justice mechanisms, to ensure that those responsible for crimes against humanity are brought to justice;

Calls on Nicaragua to guarantee the safety of human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society actors still inside the country;

Recalls that the EU-Central America Association Agreement entered into force on 1 May 2024; calls on the Council and the Commission to trigger its democratic clause and suspend its application to Nicaragua while repression persists; stresses that Parliament will under no circumstances engage with regime representatives within the newly established Association Parliamentary Committee;

Calls on the EU and Member States to strengthen political and financial support for democratic actors and civil society in Nicaragua and in exile; reaffirms solidarity with the Nicaraguan people in their struggle for democracy and the rule of law;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR, the Member States, the UN,UN Secretary-General, the OASIACHR, and the Nicaraguan authorities.