The Government of France regretted the “lack of transparency” of the political trial faced by French citizens Jeannine Horvilleur Cuadra63, and her daughter Ana Alvarez Horvilleur43 years old, who were found guilty by the Ortega court for the alleged crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news.
Judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón, of the Fifth Criminal District Court of Managua, on January 26 handed down a sentence of eight years in prison to both French citizensrelatives of opposition member Javier Álvarez.
In addition, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for Felix Roiz Sotomayor, son-in-law of the opponent, forced to go into exile so as not to be a victim of the Ortega dictatorship.
Related news: Justice of Ortega sentences relatives of opposition member Javier Álvarez to 8 and 10 years in prison
In a press conference, the spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, Agnès von der Mühll, lamented the secrecy of the Nicaraguan authorities, who, despite repeated demands, did not allow the Paris ambassador in Managua to agree to the trial against the French citizens.
“We regret the lack of transparency around this trialsince the hearings were held behind closed doors, “said the spokesperson.
He also reiterated that “we continue very concerned about the conditions of imprisonment and the state of health of our compatriotsin particular because, despite our repeated requests, our embassy has still not been able to access them, as established by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 ».
Jeannine Horvilleur Cuadra, Ana Álvarez Horvilleur and Félix Sotomayor were detained by the Ortega Police when they were looking for opposition member Javier Álvarez Zamora, husband, father and son-in-law respectively, who managed to leave Nicaragua to request international protection.
The three hostages of the dictatorship have been held captive since September 13 in the “El Nuevo Chipote” torture prison.
For his part, Javier Álvarez recently told Article 66 that he maintains the certainty of the innocence of his relatives and reiterated that the new political prisoners of the Nicaraguan regime “have not committed any crime.”
The opponent added that “by punishing the one they believe to be “guilty” they took revenge on my family”; He also assured that the defense will appeal the sentence imposed by the Nicaraguan justice system.
