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WORLD NEWS Saturday 12 September 2020
Nicaraguans testify of abuses in crackdown on protests

MANAGUA, Nicaragua cording to the Inter-Ameri-
(AP) — Eighteen Nicara- can Commission on Human
guans who say they suf- Rights.
fered torture and sexual Those who were caught
abuse at the hands of their were often taken to a
country's security forces Managua jail known as El
testified to a panel of legal Chipote.
and psychological experts "We saw how they raped
this week, determined not the girls," said one victim,
to allow the pandemic to who described seeing sex-
further forestall their search ual assaults as well as fin-
for justice. gers being cut off.
The exercise, carried out Another said she was
over several days in a hotel caught by paramilitaries
in Costa Rica's capital, was on a highway and when
meant in part to build cas- they found homemade ex-
es that could eventually be plosives in her bag they as-
taken to regional and inter- saulted her.
national courts. "They began to beat me
The alleged abuses oc- with fists and kicks," she
curred during protests said. "They threw me to the
against the government of ground and two or three
Nicaraguan President Dan- masked men raped me.
iel Ortega from April to Au- In this June 1, 2018 file photo, a masked protestor holds up a Nicaraguan flag above the Spanish While they raped me, an-
gust 2018. Police and forc- graffiti phrase: "The state did it," during a protest against the government of President Daniel other pointed a gun at me;
Ortega on National Children's Day in Managua, Nicaragua.
es dressed as civilians bru- Associated Press I felt like I wanted to die."
tally repressed what Orte- Another victim testified that
ga termed an attempted cluding many who suffered of abuses described to The ees demonstrating against the only female captive
coup. abuses at the hands of Ni- Associated Press by victims announced changes to she saw who wasn't raped
The victims offered online caraguan authorities. in Nicaragua in 2018 and to the social security system. had suffered a miscarriage
video testimony of what The panel said in its final those documented by hu- When they were violently because of the beating
the experts called system- report Friday that it had man rights organizations. put down, students took to she received.
atic sexual abuse aimed concluded that "there is no "This can't continue to be the streets and the protests Others reported broken
at terrorizing their captives. doubt that the Nicaraguan a simple complaint," said expanded to a list of griev- jaws, teeth and noses from
It ranged from repeated state committed the crime Roberto Samcam, a retired ances against the govern- beatings. They were told
rape to amputation of fin- of torture through sexual Nicaraguan army major ment. their families would be
gers and psychological tor- abuse and rape of women now exiled in Guatemala, The country was largely killed and forced to watch
ture. and men under the cus- who served as the panel's paralized for months by the assaults on their friends.
The so-called Court of Con- tody of the country's police chain-of-command ex- roadblocks manned by "The practice of rape in Ni-
science was organized by and para-police forces." pert. "We are documenting protesters until they were caragua by state agents
Costa Rica's Arias Foun- The accounts offered to each case so that it can dismantled by police and constituted torture," said
dation for Peace and Hu- the panel could not be in- move on to a trial, possibly government loyalists. Those Soraya Long, former direc-
man Progress. Some 80,000 dependently verified — the before the Inter-American who participated say they tor of the Center for Justice
Nicaraguan refugees victims were not identified Court of Human Rights." continue to be pursued and International Law, who
and asylum seekers live in by name — but they were Nicaragua's protests be- two years later. At least was a psychological expert
neighboring Costa Rica, in- very similar to descriptions gan in April 2018 with retir- 328 people were killed, ac- advising the panel.q

Ethiopians mark the start of a new year after ‘God’s wrath’

By ELIAS MESERET God's will it was easier, and challenge not only to our
Associated Press we are here now. less developed nation
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) "We were largely protected but also to all around the
— Ethiopians on Friday wel- from going through the hor- world," said one church-
comed what many people ror we saw elsewhere." goer, Girma Megenta. "In
around the world might like Coronavirus cases only in order to protect ourselves,
to see: the beginning of a recent weeks have begun all of us need to work to-
new year. to rise rapidly in Africa's gether. So that our country
Following a calendar seven second most populous is out of this bad situation,
years behind the Gregorian country. Ethiopia had more we need to teach others to
one used by much of the than 62,000 confirmed cas- raise awareness and take
world, Ethiopians marked es as of Friday, including care of ourselves." Church
the beginning of 2013. nearly 1,000 deaths. The services were more sub-
"The 2012 Ethiopian cal- government let a state of dued than usual, but in the
endar is a year where we emergency expire over the busy open-air markets of
went through a lot. There weekend, opening the way the capital, many people
was a big punishment as a for more public gatherings. were going about their Ethiopian Orthodox faithful attend a prayer ceremony to mark
the holiday of "Enkutatash", the first day of the new year in the
result of (God's) wrath," said On Friday, people prayed lives as before. Some went Ethiopian calendar, which is traditionally associated with the
Emkulu Yiheyis, an Ethiopian and sang at Bole Medhane without face masks. "What return of the Queen of Sheba to Ethiopia some 3,000 years ago,
Orthodox priest. "But it was Alem Church in the capital, we are seeing here is very at Bole Medhane Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral in the
not as big as we thought Addis Ababa. puzzling," said one shopper, capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Friday, Sept. 11, 2020.
it would be, because of "The coronavirus is a huge Yohannes Adane. q Associated Press