At approximately two in the afternoon on Saturday, November 6, Douglas Alfredo Cerros Lanzas He was leaving his job —at a finance company in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia—, when a colleague asked him if he was going to vote the next day. “No, there will be no surprise,” he replied without malice, according to relatives. More or less five hours later, the citizen was arrested by the National Police, half a block from his home in the Hermanos Zamora neighborhood, in the northern municipality.
The frank response of the citizen reached the ears of the head of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance of Ocotal, the deputy commissioner Bayron Mauricio Maradiaga Rubiowho ordered him to be arrested and accused him —without evidence— of “undermining national integrity.”
Maradiaga was the main witness in a trial against Cerros Lanzas, which was held on January 27 and lasted almost twelve hours. The judge Veronica Fiallos Moncadaof the Ocotal Criminal District Court, found the Nicaraguan guilty for the alleged crimes of “conspiracy” and spreading false news.
In the trial against Cerros Lanzas, the police chief declared that he investigated and denounced the citizen because “they told him” that he was promoting the “no vote” in the 2021 presidential elections. Without any evidence, Maradiaga affirmed that, in addition, “they told him” that the accused allegedly participated in meetings of opposition groups.
“Everything they (witnesses) say is false. They began to invent everything through gossip; an invention of theirs to harm my dad and us as a family. At no time have we harmed anyone from Ocotal,” he says. Sidley
hooded policeman
Judge Fiallos has not yet notified the sentence, although the prosecutor Alberto Mena Gamez requested a twelve-year prison sentence: eight years for the alleged crime of undermining national integrity, and four years for allegedly spreading false news.
The evidence against Cerros Lanzas was published on his Facebook page, and the testimonies of six policemen, one of them hooded.
“On his Facebook profile he was not dedicated to publishing anything (political) or conspiring against the State of Nicaragua. His profile is clean. They (police) say he was inciting hate on social media or not voting, but he doesn’t have any of that on his Facebook profile,” Sidley said.
“A protected and hooded witness testified that, through reliable sources, they learned that on July 25, 2019, my father had bought eight blue and white spray cans (to deliver them to opposition groups),” according to the daughter, who explained that the The accusation “is false” because the defense presented as evidence “the GPS of my dad’s motorcycle —which is his means of transportation— where the route of the motorcycle (of that day) is, which only went to work ”.
A review of Cerros Lanzas’ Facebook posts reveals that the citizen did not share political or hateful content. However, the prosecutor Mena Gámez also accused the citizen of violating the Special Cybercrime Lawby promoting non-vaccination against covid-19, through a Facebook post, which reads: “We are famous for being unpunctual, but a little animal made us go one day ahead to get vaccinated.”
Sidley explained that, for the prosecutor, that publication “discredits the prevention work of the Ministry of Health,” although the post “highlights the unpunctuality of Nicaraguans and that due to the need to vaccinate ourselves we leave a day earlier (to vaccinate).”
“He was one of those who first complied (with getting vaccinated), and supported the prevention work of the Ministry of Health,” added the political prisoner’s daughter.
Second found guilty
Cerros Lanzas is the second opponent found guilty under the Special Cybercrime Law, known as “Gag Law”, and the “Law of Sovereignty” o Law 1055, approved by the Ortega regime in a package of repressive legislation used to direct its political hunt in 2021.
The “Gag Law” it was approved by the National Assembly on October 28, 2020. This legislation establishes up to ten years in prison for citizens who, according to the regime, spread false news, through social networks and the media.
The “Sovereignty Law” was approved on December 21, 2020. The Prosecutor’s Office has turned this legislation into a repressive tool, through which they justify the arrests against opponents of the regime.
On January 13, the opposition Donald Margarito Alvarenga Mendoza, 56 years oldwas found guilty “of undermining national integrity (conspiracy), and spreading false news through information and communication technologies.”
Judge Rosa Velia Baca Cardoza, of the First Criminal Trial District of Chinandega, imposed —on January 18— a sentence of seven and a half years in prison; but nevertheless, a day later he rectified and increased the sentence to twelve years in prison: eight years for the alleged crime of conspiracy and four years for spreading false news. It is the same sentence that the Prosecutor’s Office has requested for Cerros Lanzas.
Although both cases have many similarities, in terms of the actions of the judicial system, they have an important difference: Alvarenga Mendoza is a recognized opponent of the regime in his locality, while Cerros Lanzas has never participated in politics.
Before the arrest, Douglas Alfredo was better known in Ocotal for being the father of Mariela Alexandra Cerros Espinoza, who in May 2021 was chosen as Miss World Nicaragua.
“He has his political opinion regarding the current situation, but he is not an activist or a community leader. He only dedicated himself to his work, the house, and us, his family, ”said the daughter of Cerros Lanzas.
Clelia Espinoza, wife of the political prisoner, reported that Douglas Alfredo “started working at the age of 14, as a bank guard. He developed, studying on his own and always just involved in his work, all his life, to give the best of him to his daughters and to me”.
“The house has never been a meeting place for politicians, as they say (the police and the Prosecutor’s Office). All of that is false,” he added.
detained under deceit
Cerros Lanzas was arrested on the night of November 6, on the eve of the national elections, in which Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo secured one more mandate, after imprisoning the main opposition candidates, civic and political leaders and canceling their legal status. of the opposition parties.
Although the arrest was made on the 6th, in the accusation of the prosecution –presented on November 19— it is stated that the citizen was arrested on November 17, and that the complaint by Subcommissioner Maradiaga was carried out on the 12th of the same month.
According to his wife and daughter, Cerros Lanzas was arrested when he was returning from visiting a sister. He was intercepted by police officers, who deceived him and told him that his truck was reported as the cause of an accident in which a child was injured. The citizen called his daughter Sidley and told her that she would accompany the officers.
I went to the station and I began to ask the officers what had happened, that I was with him; to tell me what the accident was or where the child’s family was. They just told me, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’” Sidley recounted.
“(That same night) I asked the hospital and they told me that no child had been run over. So, it seemed strange to me that they arrested him. Hours later, I saw him go by in a state of exhaustion, “he added.
Cerros Espinoza showed CONFIDENTIAL a conversation that she had that same night —via WhatsApp— with Deputy Commissioner Maradiaga, who when asked about her father’s arrest, he replied: “Nothing is happening yet.”
beating by truck
The night of the arrest Clelia Espinoza She was beaten by five female officers, because she photographed the truck that was confiscated by the Police. The agents attacked the wife of the political prisoner, despite the fact that she begged them that she was a heart patient and that she had undergone open heart surgery in 2018.
“Two (officers) grabbed me hard by opening my arms; two more put their hands in my private parts to take my cell phone; and another forcefully hit me on the chest, where I have a 30-stitch scar,” Espinoza explained.
“An officer (male) told one of the officers: ‘Magdalena put her ass up like you used to do,’” she stressed.
The Ocotal Police have refused to hand over the van, platinum color and Hilux brand, and the Public Ministry has officially requested its confiscation. “(The deputy commissioner) Bayron Maradiaga argues that the truck was used to deliver food to the roadblocks in 2018, but it is a lie because the truck was not purchased until last year. We still owe part of it to the bank, there are the vouchers,” said Espinoza.
“I don’t think that (judge) Verónica Fiallos lends herself to so much (confiscate the van). It would be the height of the scoundrel, to steal things, ”said the wife.
Release order rejected
The National Police, the Public Ministry and Judge Fiallos have disregarded a release order in favor of Cerros Lanzas, issued by the Criminal Chamber of the Estelí Court of Appeals on November 25 and notified on the 30th of the same month.
The Court ruled on a writ of habeas corpus filed by a relative of the political prisoner. The sentence indicates that the citizen’s rights and constitutional guarantees were violated by illegally detaining him in the Ocotal police cells.
Despite the existence of that appeal order, Cerros Lanzas was transferred to the Estelí prison system in early December 2021.
“It is a process that has many gaps, many inconsistencies in what it relates. It is a totally flawed process, where the release order was not complied with. My dad’s constitutional rights have been violated,” said Sidley, who graduated from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-León) with a law degree in 2018.
“When I talk to him, he tells me: ‘I know I’m going to walk out of here with my head held high and through the front door.’ So, he answered: ‘That’s right dad, because you haven’t done anything, you haven’t stolen or killed or committed any crime; you are a prisoner of conscience. What they are doing is one more injustice”, expressed the daughter of the political prisoner.
“He always tells me: ‘Negra we are going to get ahead, we are going to get out of this. I’m going to hold on, we believe in God,'” the wife said. “God is merciful,” he continued, “and evil will never prevail over good.”
“I trust in the living mercy of God and I have faith. We ask – adds Espinoza – not only for my husband, but for all the political prisoners and their families”.
