500 days ago, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo began a hunt for opponents in the last days of May 2021, when the regime was preparing for presidential elections tailored to its needs. The first people arrested were Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCH), close collaborators of the then presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro Barrios.
On May 28, 2021, the homes of Gómez and Fletes were raided, since that date they have accumulated 500 days in captivity in the cells of the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), a center where they are tortured, according to what their relatives and law enforcement agencies have denounced. human rights that have followed up on the serious situation of people deprived of liberty for political reasons.
The former workers of the FVBCH, Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, were exhibited by the Ortega Murillo dictatorship for the first time, after 15 months locked up, on September 30, before the propaganda media of the presidential family. In said act, which took place in the Managua courts, they looked unrecognizable, emaciated and thin due to the inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment to which they are subjected daily.
Related news: Unrecognizable! This is what the former employees of the Violeta Barrios Foundation look like after 15 months in detention
Gómez and Fletes were part of the defendants in the case against presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro, who has been in jail since she was arrested in June 2021. The impeachment trial was based on an accusation of alleged money laundering.
During the trial, which according to defense attorneys for Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, was plagued by irregularities and nullities, paraded a series of witnesses such as policemen and journalists. The accusation was based on the support that the organization provided for several years to the independent media.
In the accusatory libel, Marcos Fletes and Walter Gómez, accountant and administrator respectively, are accused of asking third parties to cash the Foundation’s checks.
The judicial process began on March 3 and ended on the 11, it was held in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, in Managua, known as “El Chipote”, where 27 other hostages of conscience are also held captive.
