The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) described the judicial sentences imposed by the Daniel Ortega regime against Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, members of the newspaper’s board of directors, as an “aberration to freedom of expression and the press.” the press.
The president of the IAPA, Jorge Canahuati, expressed that “the lack of independence of the Nicaraguan judges who continue to issue rulings without due process to satisfy the dictatorship is obvious.”
Canahuati, executive president of Grupo Opsa, from Honduras, added that “these convictions are an aberration against freedom of expression and the press and an affront to the rule of law.”
On March 11, Cristiana Chamorro, former presidential candidate and former president of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCh), under house arrest since June 2, 2021, was found guilty of the alleged crimes of money laundering, appropriation and improper retention. .
“They violate freedom of expression and I will continue to defend that legacy that my father left behind,” he said upon hearing the verdict, referring to the director of La Prensa, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, assassinated in 1978.
The president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, said that “with these rulings, the Ortega-Murillo regime is trying to legitimize the closure of media outlets and the persecution of journalists.”
Jornet, journalistic director of La Voz del Interior, in Argentina, added that “the government has already managed to close the circle of absolute censorship.”
Justice also sentenced Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, former vice president of the FVBCh. Two former FVBCh workers, Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, were also convicted, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requests 13 years in prison, and seven against Pedro Vásquez, Cristiana Chamorro’s personal driver.
Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín, together with Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, general manager of La Prensa who has been imprisoned since August 14, 2021, make up the newspaper’s board of directors.
The reading of the sentence is scheduled for March 21. The Prosecutor’s Office asks for eight years in prison for Cristiana Chamorro and nine for Pedro Joaquín Chamorro.
The FVBCh ceased operations in February 2021, when the regime implemented a law to control external financing received by non-governmental organizations.
In February, journalists Miguel Mora were sentenced to 13 years and Miguel Mendoza to nine years in prison.
