3 former Nicaraguan presidential hopefuls convicted of conspiracy

Juan Sebastian Chamorro, Felix Maradiaga and Arturo Cruz

(CNN Spanish) --

Opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Félix Maradiaga and Arturo Cruz were convicted of conspiracy, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) and Jared Genser, lawyer for Chamorro and Maradiaga, reported in a press release. .

Chamorro and Maradiaga received sentences of 13 years in prison, while Cruz was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights reported that along with Chamorro, Maradiaga and Cruz, 4 other prominent opponents were also convicted of the same crimes: the jurist José Pallais to 13 years in prison, the activists Violeta Granera and Tamara Dávila to 8 years and the former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) José Adán Aguerri, to 13 years in prison.

• 7 prominent opponents in Nicaragua found guilty of conspiracy, including 3 former presidential candidates

"The sentences handed down by the spurious judiciary are null. These people are innocent. We demand that they be released immediately," Cenidh said on its Twitter account.

Chamorro and Maradiaga's lawyer stated: "The arrest, trial, conviction and sentencing is the culmination of an eight-month Kafkaesque nightmare, which began with illegal arrests, included 84 days of enforced disappearance and has been characterized by torture, prolonged detention in incommunicado regime, serious violations of due process and arbitrary detention, all in flagrant violation of their rights under Nicaraguan and international law.”

According to Jared Genser, during the process, 35 violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were committed, among them the violation of the presumption of innocence, the lack of access to their lawyer, whom they met prior to the trial, and the lack of knowledge of the charges they faced.

"During the trial, the Prosecutor's Office presented 27 police officers as witnesses against the seven political prisoners (Chamorro, Maradiaga, Cruz, Pallais, Granera, Dávila and Aguerri). The only evidence they were accused of was their participation in a WhatsApp group and some television interviews," added Genser.

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Victoria Cárdenas, wife of Juan Sebastián Chamorro, told CNN this Friday that the lawyers will file an appeal and reiterated her husband's innocence.

The trials against the opposition leaders are being carried out in the prison of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, where there is no access to the media.

The Judiciary does not respond to questions from independent media about these cases and the information shared by the Public Ministry is limited.

The Nicaraguan president has expressed on several occasions that the opponents on trial are part of a network that channeled funds to carry out destabilization activities in the country.

Trial begins against Cristiana Chamorro

The former presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro Barrios was taken this Thursday from her home, where she is under house arrest, to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, where she will face charges for alleged money laundering, abusive management and ideological falsehood while directing the Violeta Barrios Foundation, reported the Cenidh .

"We condemn the cruelty against the political prisoner Cristiana Chamorro, who was taken from her home to Chipote, where they put her in a cell, forced her to wear a blue uniform and put plastic handcuffs on her. This is how they presented her in the judicial farce," he added. the organization.

On June 2, 2021, before being arrested, Chamorro had warned the national media that the accusation against her was a "grim set-up" to impede her run for the presidency.

Along with Chamorro, his brother and director of the extinct Alianza por la República party, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, also appears for the alleged crimes of abusive management, appropriation and improper retention, as well as Marcos Flores, Walter Gómez and Pedro Vásquez, collaborators of the Violeta Barrios Foundation, who also plead not guilty.