Christiana Chamorro, daughter of the renowned former president of Nicaragua Violeta Barrios de Chamorrowas finally found guilty this Friday of the charges presented by the justice related to President Daniel Ortega, such as money laundering, goods and assets, improper appropriation and retention, abusive management and ideological falsehood.
The opponent is charged with the charges for her role in the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which she directed a year ago and which promoted freedom of the press in Nicaragua. This foundation received funds from various organizations, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has denied any misappropriation in the use of fundsaccording to what the entity said before a query made by the voice of america.
In the process, which was led by Judge Luden Martín Quiroz, his brother Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, who was also a potential candidate in the elections last November, was also involved; and former employees of the Chamorro Foundation, Marcos Fletes, Walter Gómez, as well as the opposition’s personal driver, Pedro Vásquez.
The trial lasted a week and had little evidence to prove Chamorro’s guilt, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) said on Twitter, which has closely followed the judicial processes against the more than 40 recently detained opponents.
Most of the witnesses were police officers, Cenidh said, adding that they were “widely questioned by the defense, making them repetitive and contradictory.”
The Prosecutor’s Office has requested at least 8 years in prison for Cristiana Chamorro and the former employees of the Violeta Barrios Foundation and seven for the opponent’s brother, as well as for Pedro Vásquez, her personal driver.
The defendants, with the exception of Chamorro, who is under house arrest, remain in maximum security cells at the El Chipote prison in Managua. In that place the health condition of the detainees has progressively deteriorated for the human rights violations to which they are subjected, according to their lawyers.
Parade of journalists in order to intimidate them
During the investigation against Chamorro, dozens of journalists were summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office where many of them were threatened with arrest for receiving training from the organization.
The Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation ceased operations in Nicaragua on February 5, 2021 due to the refusal to register as a foreign agent, once the Foreign Agents Law, known as Putin Lawdue to the similarities with similar Russian legislation.
For years, the Foundation channeled funds from foreign cooperation, particularly from USAID, something that the government of Daniel Ortega used as a pretext to persecute the organization with its Foreign Agents Law, and which in fact would prohibit Cristiana from running for the presidency. of Nicaragua in the 2021 elections.
Cristiana Chamorro headed the Foundation that bears the name of her mother, the woman who defeated Sandinismo and Daniel Ortega at the polls in 1990.
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