In a 538-16 vote, the European Parliament passed a resolution that “condemns in the strongest possible terms the escalating repression against the Catholic Church, opposition figures, civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, peasants, students and indigenous people in Nicaragua.”

The members pointed “in particular to the arbitrary arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, and call for his and others’ immediate and unconditional release and the annulment of all legal proceedings against them.”