The sociologist and economist, Irving Larios, was found guilty by the Ortega justice for the alleged crimes of “conspiring to undermine national integrity” and “propagation of false news,” after a political trial held in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance ( DAJ), El Chipote, this Monday, February 28.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested 13 years in prison for Larios – eight for “conspiring to undermine national integrity” and five for “spreading false news.”
Among the evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office against Larios are publications on social networks referring to the covid-19 pandemic and the country’s socio-political situation, which he had shared on his personal Facebook account. Likewise, the Public Ministry brought four policemen who acted as witnesses in the case.
Larios, who is also a member of the Articulation of Social Movements, had his right to communicate with his defense violated throughout the legal process, including during the trial, CONFIDENCIAL confirmed.
In his speech at the hearing, Larios said: “they are condemning me for working for social justice and for a better world, where you can live in a dignified way. Nicaragua needs democracy. I am a defender of human rights, it is the meaning of my life,” he said. before the Ortega judge, Nancy Aguirre Gudiel, of the Tenth Court.
concern for your health
Larios is hypertensive and his family fears the worsening of his chronic illness, especially after he suffered a high blood pressure crisis in the last week of February. The demand of his relatives is that he be clinically assessed and that they allow his precautionary measure to be changed from home to prison, in addition to demanding his immediate freedom and the annulment of the trials considered “illegal” by experts in criminal law, human rights defenders and relatives. of prisoners of conscience.
Like the rest of the political prisoners who have been subjected to precarious conditions in El Chipote for more than six months, Larios, 63, has lost more than 30 pounds in weight.
His case is part of a score of social and political leaders who were found guilty during February -mainly for the crimes of conspiring to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news- and sentenced to prison with sentences of between eight and 13 years, although the defense attorneys argued that the guilt of those involved was not proven in the trials, as was also the case with Larios.
The sociologist was captured on Monday, September 20 in his house in Managua, from where he was violently removed, his relatives denounced at that time. He has remained in solitary confinement in a punishment cell and, like political prisoners Víctor Hugo Tinoco and Dora María Téllez, political reprisals have included the deprivation of the right to his Social Security pension.
He was also president of the Institute for Research and Social Management (INGES), an NGO whose legal status was canceled by the National Assembly in 2021, and was one of the more than 40 people arrested during the last hunt by the Ortega regime against dissident voices and leaderships. civic and political on the eve of the general voting, considered an electoral “farce”.
The National Police justified his imprisonment for alleged investigations for violating Law 1055 or Law for the Defense of the People’s Rights to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-determination for Peace, known as the “Sovereignty Law.”
In an interview given to Radio Confidential, his daughter, Andrea Larios, stressed that there was no indication that her father had been captured, since his only sin is “thinking differently,” he said.
