The European Union (EU) sent a message rejecting the imprisonment and sentence against the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarezsentenced to 26 years in prison after being transferred by the Ortega-Murillo regime to the Jorge Navarro prison system, known as “La Modelo”.
The spokesman for Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Peter Stano, expressed through social networks that, “after the welcome release of 222 political prisoners last week, the European Union deplores the harsh sentence handed down against Bishop Rolando Álvarez, and also calls for his speedy release.”
Related news: Calidh denounces the confinement of Monsignor Rolando Álvarez in the punishment cell of “La Modelo”
On the morning of this February 15, the Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance in Human Rights (Calidh) denounced that the Catholic hierarch is in a punishment cell known as “el infiernillo” where temperatures reach up to 40 degrees. “Because of this cruel treatment, any damage to his health is the responsibility of the State,” the organization said.
Recently, the defender and executive secretary of Calidh, Danny Ramírez, affirmed that within the organization “we are following with concern the process against Monsignor Álvarez and other detained priests. We reiterate that the “exemplary punishment” they want to give and send to the rest of the clergy is religious persecution, a conduct prohibited by international law,” he said.
After six months of house arrest, on February 9, the cardinal refused to be banished from Nicaragua and in revenge the regime decided to lock him up in the Jorge Navarro National Penitentiary System (SPN), as confirmed by Daniel Ortega himself in a signal transmitted by national radio and television.
On February 10, Bishop Álvarez was found guilty in an express summary trial in which the sentence of 26 years in prison was also handed down. The day before, on February 9, the Catholic hierarch refused to be banished from Nicaragua and in revenge the regime ordered him to be locked up in the National Penitentiary System (SPN), known as “La Modelo”.
The monsignor was also stripped of his Nicaraguan nationality. In addition, the court ordered the payment of 56,461.15 córdobas corresponding to 800 days of fine. The Monsignor had planned to face the trial on February 15, however he was brought forward after the hierarch refused to board a plane with 222 other prisoners, to be exiled.
