the political prisoner Douglas Alfredo Cerros Lanzas was released this Sunday, July 3, they informed CONFIDENTIAL sources close to the case. The prisoner of conscience was arrested on November 6, on the eve of the national votes in which Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo secured one more mandate, after detaining the main opposition candidates, civic and political leaders.
The political prisoner was detained in the Estelí prison system, from where the family was called to go look for him. CONFIDENCIAL consulted Cerros’s relatives, who indicated that they would give details of the release later.
Lanzas Hills He was sentenced last February to 12 years in prison. for the alleged crimes of conspiracy and spreading false news. The sentence was imposed by Judge Verónica Fiallos Moncada, of the Ocotal Criminal District Court, who also ordered the confiscation of a Hilux truck owned by the defendant’s wife.
In the trial against Cerros Lanzas, the head of the Ocotal Judicial Assistance Directorate, Deputy Commissioner Bayron Mauricio Maradiaga Rubio, stated 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, the police command affirmed that, in addition, “they told him” that the accused was supposedly participating in meetings of opposition groups.
According to the judicial notification document, sent on Friday, February 11, the judge imposed a sentence of eight years “for the crime of undermining national integrity (conspiracy)”, and another of four years “for the crime of spreading news false through information and communication technologies”.
With repressive laws
Cerros Lanzas was sentenced under two pieces of legislation: the Special Cybercrime Law, known as the “Gag Law”, and the “Sovereignty Law” or Law 1055, approved by Ortega at the end of 2020, in a package of repressive laws used to direct a political hunt in 2021.
The “Gag Law” 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.
In the Estelí prison, Cerros Lanzas was held together with the political prisoners Santos Camilo Bellorín Lira and Alexis Peralta Espinoza. All three were found guilty and sentenced under both laws.
Bellorín and Peralta were sentenced to eleven years in prison. CONFIDENCIAL contacted relatives of both political prisoners, who indicated that their relatives continue to be detained.
