Human rights group demands release of Nicaraguan pastor, family arrested amid worsening religious repression

Nicaraguan authorities have arrested a Protestant pastor and several of his relatives and associates in a police operation that took place last month. Rights groups are demanding their immediate release and warning of worsening religious repression in the country.

Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas, founder of La Roca de Nicaragua Church Association, was detained along with seven others — his sister, Arely Palacios Vargas, her husband, Pedro José López, another sister, Jéssica Palacios Vargas and her husband, Armando José Bermudez Mojica, political activist Mauricio Alonso Prieto and his son, and a family friend, Olga María Lara Rojas — according to the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Armed officers and masked individuals in dark clothing raided multiple homes in Jinotepe, Carazo Department, that evening, taking the eight individuals into custody without presenting warrants and seizing their phones and electronic devices.

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