IACHR Files Application Before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case Concerning Torture and Death of Incarcerated Man in Nicaragua

October 2, 2024

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed on July 22, 2024, an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case 14,679, with regard to Nicaragua. This case concerns the torture suffered by Santos Sebastián Flores Castillo and his subsequent death while he was deprived of liberty.

Lawyer and notary public Santos Sebastián Flores Castillo denounced in 2005 that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega had become involved in a relationship with Flores Castillo's sister, aged 15 at the time, and that she had had a daughter with Ortega. Following these allegations, Flores Castillo and his family were persecuted by the State. In 2013, Flores Castillo was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a crime that, according to the petitioning party, had been fabricated in retaliation for his allegations.

While he was incarcerated in the Jorge Navarro Prison Complex in Tipitapa, known as "La Modelo", both Flores Castillo and his mother denounced that he was being subjected to torture and inhuman conditions. On November 8, 2021, Flores Castillo died in prison, allegedly of a heart attack. His family said that his body showed signs of injuries, torture, and malnutrition, and they questioned the official cause of death.

In Merits Report 106/23, the IACHR documented the prolonged isolation and inhuman conditions of detention suffered by the victim, including a lack of adequate food, drinking water, and medical care. The IACHR heard repeated allegations of physical and psychological torture perpetrated against him by officers of the State, along with a deprivation of water and food, physical ill-treatment, being kept in shackles, and sexual abuse by other inmates. Marks and wounds on the victim's body and the fact that no clear autopsy was performed in this case led the IACHR to conclude that torture had been perpetrated.

The Commission found that, despite the serious allegations and the information that had been provided, the State had failed to launch an investigation into these allegations of torture and ill-treatment. The IACHR further noted the suffering that had been inflicted on the victim's family.

The IACHR therefore concluded that the State of Nicaragua was liable for violations of the rights to life, personal integrity, a fair trial, honor and dignity, family protection, and judicial protection, held in Articles 4, 5, 8, 11, 17, and 25 of the American Convention, concerning the obligations held in Article 1.1 of that instrument. The IACHR further concluded that the State of Nicaragua had failed to comply with its obligations according to Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, with regard to Santos Sebastián Flores Castillo and his family.

The Commission recommended that the State adopt the following redress measures:

1. Provide comprehensive reparations—both material and immaterial—for all human rights violations, including financial and other compensation measures
2. Provide health recovery and psychological assistance schemes for the victim's relatives
3. Conduct a comprehensive and effective investigation, in keeping with international standards concerning due diligence, to find and punish the people responsible for Flores Castillo's death
4. Take measures of non-recurrence, ensure the provision of medical care to individuals who are deprived of liberty, facilitate family contact, only resort to isolation in exceptional cases, send a message against torture from the State's highest authorities, and improve conditions of detention in "La Modelo," in keeping with the applicable inter-American standards

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 236/24

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