The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) denounced the “judicial farce” that is being carried out against the general manager of the newspaper La Prensa, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, who on the morning of this Monday, March 21, was taken from his cell in the Directorate Judicial Assistance, to take him to another room in the same room to try him. The agency stressed that the political prisoner has an “alarming deterioration in his health.”
Holmann is accused of money laundering, as part of an open case against the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCh). The Cenidh warned that the hostage of conscience is “seriously ill.”
“Confirming in his last visit (March 19, 2022) that he has lost about 24 pounds of weight, from August 2021 to date, he has a lump in the abdomen and pain in the groin, fungus in the hands and feet in addition heart problems, blood pressure and apparent prostate problems. Holmann has not complied with his complete vaccination schedule and in the police complex they ignore his request to be vaccinated,” Cenidh said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Related news: Juan Lorenzo Holmann continues with “strong spirits”, despite the constant interrogations of Ortega’s jailers
The general manager of the newspaper La Prensa was imprisoned after the raid on the facilities of that media outlet in the early hours of August 14, 2021 by police officers at the service of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. Since then, the international community and human rights defenders have demanded his freedom.
The technical team of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance participated in the arbitrary raid, accompanied by officials from the General Directorate of Customs Services (DGA), the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and the Public Ministry, the police report indicated. The officials also searched the warehouses of Editorial La Prensa Sociedad Anónima.
Related news: The US demands the release of Juan Lorenzo Holmann, arrested for “coordinating the La Prensa team”
He is currently one of the more than 40 political prisoners that the regime has locked up in the context of the general elections in which Ortega was enthroned in his fourth consecutive term.
The United States, through the Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Department of State, Brian A. Nichols, demanded that Holmann be released, as they affirm that the reason for his arrest is solely due to the fact that he carried out his job of directing the journalistic team. of La Prensa, the newspaper with the longest history in the country and one of the most critical of the Ortega-Murillo administration.
