Nicaragua sentences ex-presidential candidate to 8 years in prison amid wider opposition crackdown
This is the latest crackdown by the government of President Daniel Ortega against members of the opposition.
Ortega announced his fifth presidential term last November. In June 2021, his government began using vague national security legislation as a pretext to lock down opposition presidential candidates, opposition leaders, journalists, human rights activists, and activists. others before the November election.
According to CNN Español, at least 40 opposition figures have been found guilty of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and financial crimes.
Chamorro, a journalist and former director of the Organization for Reconciliation and Democracy Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for money laundering and improper storage charges and will be placed under house arrest, according to a report. Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH). Pedro Vásquez, the journalist’s driver, was sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering, according to CENIDH.
The administrator of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation and the accountant Marcos Fists were each sentenced to 13 years in prison for the same charges, in addition to administrative abuse and ideological deviation, according to CENIDH.
The government also sentenced Chamorro’s brother and former Liberal deputy Pedro Joaquin Chamorro to nine years in prison for mismanagement and embezzlement, according to CENIDH.
According to CENIDH, former presidential candidate, racer Vásquez, Gómez and her athlete were also fined two fines, one of US$1.6 million and the other of 56 million Córdobas (1.56 million). dollars), CNN Español reported.
All five were found guilty on March 12, 2022 in a closed-door trial, according to CNN Español. They pleaded not guilty and said they would appeal to the judiciary, according to CNN Español.
Roberto Lario, the official spokesman for Nicaragua’s judicial power, told CNN he has no comment on the trials and that the Public Ministry has not released any updates on the proceedings.
