In April 2018, Nicaraguans took to the streets in large numbers to protest the government of President Daniel Ortega. They were met with violence. A brutal crackdown by the National Police and heavily armed pro-government groups against protesters that lasted several months has left more than 300 people killed and more than 2,000 injured.

According to an independent group of experts, appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) with the support of the Nicaraguan government, police and armed pro-government groups committed widespread abuses against largely unarmed protesters, including extrajudicial executions, between April and July. By the end of the protests in August 2018, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that 22 police officers died in the context of the protests and their repression. 

This report examines what happened, after the crackdown in the streets, to many of the hundreds of people arrested by police or abducted by armed pro-government groups. It is based on research conducted in Nicaragua and Costa Rica and a review of official sources.

Report by the Human Rights Watch