13/06/2019 (Agence Europe) – The release earlier this week of around 100 prisoners, including the Belgian-Nicaraguan Amaya Coppens (see EUROPE 12181/16), who had been detained since the anti-government demonstrations of April 2018, is “a step in the right direction” in terms of fulfilling the commitments made by the government and is intended to ease the political crisis in Nicaragua, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said on Thursday 13 June in a statement. They urged the country's authorities to drop all charges against the released persons and to guarantee their political rights as well as their right to property and safety. Those responsible for human rights violations, on the other hand, must be prosecuted and held accountable, which is an essential condition for national reconciliation, they added. (MB)