E/CN.4/1990/46 page 32 "The Government of Nicaragua has pursued a policy of State subsidies for churches, which by April 1983 had been allocated 142,637.99 m 2 of land in the urban areas of Managua. Up to 1988 the State gave religious schools subsidies amounting to 734,412,000 cordobas a year, representing some 5 per cent of the Ministry of Education's national budget. The State guarantees the churches' ownership of property; however, organizations attached to the churches have to meet the legal requirements applicable to all organizations in the country. This is the context in which COPROSA began its illegal activities. COPROSA is an organization of the archdiocese of Managua concerned with health, education and housing, which required State authorization in order to exist as a legal entity. When it insisted on disregarding the established legal order, it put itself in the position of an illegal association which existed de facto but not de jure? with the consequence that its goods were temporarily confiscated. Later on, once this situation had been resolved, the Nicaraguan authorities returned the property to the church authorities, on 19 July 1986. "In Nicaragua it is the law that all organs of the media, without distinction, have to be registered with the Directorate-General of the media. Despite this law, the journals Iglesia. Hoja Parroquial and Heraldo Catolico have insisted on remaining outside the law, ignoring many official calls for them to comply, thus leaving the authorities no alternative but to close these periodicals down. In Nicaragua more than 50 religious programmes are broadcast every day. "More than 2,000 masses are celebrated every week in Nicaragua. country has over 100 evangelical denominations, 82 religious congregations, over 175 Catholic parishes and over 2,000 Evangelical churches open to the public. The "Under the National Emergency Law, when it was in force, due authorization was required to hold public religious services in the open air or processions on private property. However, no application for such authorization was ever rejected during this period. "There had been some purely individual cases where a number of lay persons and priests were summoned by the authorities to be warned about activities they were pursuing in a personal capacity which violated the law of the land. Nevertheless, no one has so far been cautioned or convicted because of his religious activities. In 10 years of revolution, no priest or member of a religious order has been punished for religious reasons or for any other kind of activity. "It is important to stress that for the Government of Nicaragua respect for human rights is a fundamental principle of the revolution. In 10 years of revolution, nobody has been convicted for engaging in religious activities or professing his belief or religion. There have, on the other hand, been individual cases in which some civilians, taking advantage of the religious freedoms in the country, have flagrantly flouted the law through acts of vandalism and disturbance of the public order, such as those committed in a personal capacity by Mr. Paul Membreno Gaitan, Mr. Vicente Marquez Aleman, Mr. Francisco Sanchez Gutierez and Mr. Luis Mora Sanchez. All of them violated the Law on the