The political prisoner and presidential candidate, Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, was imposed a millionaire fine by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo at the sentence reading this Monday, March 21, 2022.
The journalist and former director of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCH) must pay the State of Nicaragua the sum of 1 million 621 thousand 586.85 dollars and 56 million 961 thousand 299.43 córdobas, corresponding to “three times the value of the laundered amount,” according to the court ruling to which he had access Article 66.
Related news: Dictatorship sentences Cristiana Chamorro, the candidate who would defeat Ortega, to eight in prison
«The defendant Cristiana María Chamorro Barrios is declared guilty, for being the author of the crime of money laundering, to the detriment of Nicaraguan society and the State of Nicaragua. She is sentenced to five years in prison », said Judge Luden Martín Quiroz García, head of the Ninth Criminal District Court of Managua.
Chamorro was the opposition figure most likely to win the presidential elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected for his fifth term, fourth in a row, and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison.
The journalist was also found guilty for being the author of the alleged crime of “undue appropriation and retention to the detriment of Nicaraguan society and the State of Nicaragua” and was sentenced to three years in prison plus the payment of 300 days of fines, equivalent to to 304 thousand 284 córdobas.
“The convicted Cristiana María Chamorro Barrios, a total sentence of eight years in prison, will provisionally serve her sentence on June 2, 2029,” says the court ruling.
The same million-dollar fines were imposed on political prisoners Walter Antonio Gómez, administrator of the FVBCH; Marco Fletes, financier of the Foundation and Pedro Vásquez, driver of Chamorro. Gómez and Fletes were sentenced to two years in prison for abusive management, two more years for ideological falsehood and four for improper appropriation and retention and five for money laundering; 13 years in total.
Pedro Joaquín, brother of Cristiana, was sentenced to three years in prison for the alleged crime of abusive management, appropriation and six years in prison for improper retention, for a total of nine years in prison that will be served on August 23. of 2030. Pedro Vázquez was sentenced to seven years in prison for being a “necessary collaborator in the crime of money laundering” and will serve his sentence on August 23, 2028.
According to the accusation of the Prosecutor’s Office, at the service of the dictatorship, the daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro used the organization to “finance organizations and individuals, so that they would destabilize the economic development of the country, spreading false news against the Government of Nicaragua”.
During the trial, which according to defense attorneys 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.
The case against the Foundation affects independent media such as Radio Voz, Radio Darío, Despacho 505, Actualidad con Dino Andino, NotiMat, Radio TV Merced and Radio Stereo Romance, among others. All of them supposedly had benefited from the “Nicaragua Media Program” that the FVBCH executed with Nicaraguan journalists.
The program consisted, according to the accusation of the regime’s justice, in the delivery of financing for the purchase of equipment, technical training and subsequent operation of the media.
