They continue to prosecute Nicaraguan opposition figures, who have been detained in the prison known as El Chipote, for the alleged crime of conspiracy to undermine national integrity. And for spreading false news through information and communication technologies.
By: Intertextual Writing.
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Each of the people in their moment of defense has maintained their innocence of the charges against them.
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A lawyer, who preferred to withhold her identity for her safety, told CNN that the defendants denied the charges. And she added that when they receive notification of the sentence, they will introduce an appeal since it is an “atypical” trial in which the crimes charged were not proven and no specific victims or affected persons were presented.
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All the defense attorneys of the political prisoners have rejected the sentences of their defendants, and justified by commenting that “the evidence presented in the trial is investigations carried out by the National Police, and the evidence is publications made on social networks.” According to the defender, the messages are part of the freedom of expression enshrined in the Constitution, since dissent with the government is not a crime.
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This Wednesday, February 9, in the Chipote prison in the trials that do not obey “due process” according to defenders, the prosecution found four other opposition leaders, including one who aspired to the Presidency, for the crime of conspiring to commit treason to the motherland
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José Antonio Peraza, political scientist, member of the political council of the Blue and White National Unity and former director of the Movement for Nicaragua (MPN), was found guilty by Ortega judge Ángel Jancarlos Fernández González. The Prosecutor’s Office, led by the former general commissioner of the also sanctioned Police, Ana Julia Guido, asks for 10 years in prison against Peraza, plus disqualification from holding public office.
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The trial was also held for the peasant Alexis Peralta, originally from the municipality of Condega, in the department of Estelí, who was accused under the Cybercrime Law.
Peasant leaders Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena were sentenced this Wednesday. The Prosecutor’s Office requested a prison sentence of 10 years for Pedro Mena and 12 years for Medardo Mairena. The sentence will be announced on February 17 at 3. Medardo Mairena is one of the people who had announced his intentions to run as a candidate in the general elections last November.
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In this way, there are already 14 dissidents convicted for this reason in the last nine days.
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Of this four processed yesterday, Wednesday, the peasant leaders Mairena and Mena had already spent 11 months in prison for leading anti-government protests. In that previous judicial process, the prosecution had sentenced them to 216 years and 210 years in prison, respectively. Both were released under an amnesty law.
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People who have received sentenced, this week
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The first people found guilty, last week in Nicaragua, for the alleged crime of “Treason against the Homeland are Yader Parajón and Yaser Mahumar Vado, and the opposition leader Ana Margarita Vigil, the former Sandinista guerrilla Dora María Téllez, the communicator and youth leader Lesther Alemán, who rebuked the president during the start of a failed national dialogue almost four years ago, where he demanded that he surrender. Likewise, the former first lady María Fernanda Flores Lanzas, wife of former president Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002), and the journalist Miguel Mora, owner of the confiscated channel 100{0cab3704e21a71302162fadf9844f7b3ed53b42a3c5272f295e0fc76090d0b44} Noticias and candidate for the Presidency of Nicaragua by the opposition before being imprisoned.
This week, starting on February 7, the trials continued, Suyen Barahona Cuan, president of the opposition party UNAMOS before MRS, was found guilty, “the Judge of the 13th Criminal District of Trials, Ulisa Yahoska Tapia Silva, issues a guilty verdict against the political prisoner Suyen Barahona Cuan for the crime of undermining national integrity. The prosecution asks for 15 years in prison + Disqualification from holding public office ” reported the UDJ.
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Suyen Barahona’s mother in a statement stated “I know that my daughter is innocent. She must be free,” she demanded in a brief written statement made by the family.
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The family of the political leader, described the judiciary in total “detachment from the constitution and the independence of powers” when convicting her.
On February 8th was the trial of the sportswriter Miguel Mendoza. In a sit-in that took place outside the College of Journalists of Costa Rica, exiled journalists from Nicaragua said “Miguel Mendoza made his views known on his social networks and that is why they want to incriminate him, but it is not possible to go over him.” the Political Constitution, that is why when the time comes, justice will shine and freedom for political prisoners will be possible”.
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The Prosecutor’s Office requested nine years in prison for the sportswriter, who was arrested on June 21, 2021, during a wave of arrests of opposition leaders and critics of Sandinismo.
The sports journalist was found guilty by Judge Ludden Quiroz García. Prior to the verdict, the Nicaraguan Independent Journalists and Communicators (PCIN) union, of which Mendoza is a member, considered the trial “illegal and riddled with arbitrariness” “which is only intended to try to silence the voices of women and men of the press.” that they report daily despite the risk it represents in Nicaragua.”
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On February 8, former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, 76, became this Tuesday the tenth opponent or critic of President Daniel Ortega to be found guilty of the crime of conspiring to undermine national integrity, and his family, after hearing the verdict, urged an “urgent and direct dialogue” with the government.
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The trials of Víctor Hugo Tinoco Fonseca and Max Isacc Meza are scheduled to take place on Friday, February 11. The Articulations of Social Movements, in a publication, point out “Ortega, a crime against humanity occupies the judges and his prosecutor’s office to criminalize kidnapped citizens.”
