Persecution in Nicaragua: Three other opposition leaders brought to justice by the Ortega regime

The justice of Nicaragua decided this friday to chase and carry on preventive prison three presidential candidates and others accused of undermining sovereignty and “Betrayal of the fatherland” 66 days before the legislative elections, reported the prosecution.

On the second day of hearings against 34 jailed opponents, a court ordered the presidential candidates to be brought to justice, Félix Maradiaga, Arturo Cruz and Juan Sebastián Chamorro, according to a statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Prosecutor’s Office).

The decision to prosecute the three politicians has come a day after the trial of Cristiana Chamorro, also a presidential candidate, accused of money and property laundering through the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCH).

The government of Daniel ortega, in power since 2007 and looking for a fourth term, believes that detained opponents seek to overthrow him.

Cruz was arrested on June 5, while Maradiaga and Chamorro on June 8, as part of a wave of arrests of critics of the government, social leaders, businessmen, students accused of “undermining independence, sovereignty, self-determination and incitement to intervention foreign ”.

In addition to the three presidential candidates, seven detained opponents will also be prosecuted, including the entrepreneur José Aguerri, the former guerrillas Hugo Torres Jiménez, Dora Téllez, Víctor Tinoco, as well as the leaders Suyen Barahona and Violeta Granera.

All were detained between June and July and the court admitted the charge of “Conspiracy to undermine national integrity”, said the prosecution.

The hearing was held at the Police Legal Aid prison, known as El Chipote, without access to the press or to the family, which, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), is a violation of laws that establish that trials must be Public and in the courtroom.

Trials for which an opening date has not been established are announced in the middle of the electoral process, which is dated November 7 and whose main competitor would be the current president Daniel Ortega.

The head of 75 years He was in government between 1979 and 1990, first at the head of a board of directors and then as president. In 1990 he was defeated by former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro and returned to power in 2007 where he remains to this day.

Arrest of opponents led to an increase in sanctions and criticism from the international community towards Ortega who refuses to let go of his rivals, claiming that they are “the criminals“And that they conspired for a coup, with the support of the United States.

(With information from AFP)

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