The Nicaraguan parliament on Tuesday (October 27th) approved a law punishing the spread of
“false news”
with sentences of up to five years in prison, a law denounced by the opposition which sees it as an instrument of
“repression”
.
The text was adopted by 70 votes from the deputies of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, in power), while sixteen deputies opposing President Daniel Ortega voted against, seeing it as a
"gag law"
and stressing that power now sets itself up as the sole judge of truth.
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The law makes
"spreading false news"
punishable by four years in prison
, with up to five years in prison if it
"incites hatred and violence"
.
If
"distorted information"
harms the honor of a person or a family, it will be punishable by one to three years in prison, the text provides.
The sanction can go up to ten years in prison in case of
"computer espionage"
.
"
It's over for liars, those who participate in the industry of social media lies, those who fabricate and disseminate false information that creates disorder, fear and angst, that affects economic stability and 'public order'
, welcomed FSLN deputy Emilio Lopez.
"We will no longer allow calls to hatred
(...)
to chaos via a means of communication,"
exclaimed Emilio Lopez.
The law, he warned, will notably be applied against those who demand early elections, one of the main demands of the opposition during the popular uprising in spring 2018 against the government of President Ortega.
Read also: Nicaragua: “express burials” to hide the reality of the coronavirus
The Sandinista MP added that the law also targets those
"who have said that thousands and thousands of Nicaraguans have been infected
(with the coronavirus)
and that thousands have died"
.
Independent networks of doctors and citizens have again recently questioned the official statistics showing in Nicaragua (6.2 million inhabitants) more than 4,900 confirmed cases, including 147 deaths.
Independent sources count at least 10,258 suspected cases, and 2,721 deaths that could be due to the new coronavirus.
It is a law
"oriented against the opposition"
and which will
"ignite the climate of repression"
, denounced for her part Azucena Castillo, member of the right-wing opposition party, the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC).
It aims
"to repress those who think that the government has taken a wrong path"
, also indignant the president of the parliamentary group of the PLC, Maximino Rodriguez.
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