The defense attorneys of the presidential candidate Christiana Chamorro, of his brother Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and the former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation will appeal the sentence handed down by a Managua judge on Monday.
Oppositionist Cristiana Chamorro, arrested after announcing her aspiration to compete in the November 2021 elections, was found guilty of crimes associated with money laundering for which she was sentenced to eight years in prison, which she will spend under house arrest.
While his brother Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and other former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation received sentences ranging from 7 years to 13 years in prison.
Lawyer Maynor Curtis, who defends Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, indicated that they will appeal the sentence because even during the trial there were several irregularities and “serious problems” to prove the crime of money laundering.
He indicated that the Violeta Barrios Foundation, to whom the charge of alleged money laundering is directed, received more than half of the donations from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Prosecutor’s Office itself said in the trial that the funds they were legal.
“That is a problem that there was for the demonstration of the crime of money laundering. If you don’t have the illicit money, it will be difficult for you to prove money laundering. That is why we are going to appeal, because we do not agree with the court’s decision,” Curtis told the voice of america.
After being found guilty, the Chamorro brothers pleaded their innocence in court, Curtis said.
“Doña Cristiana said that she was innocent and that she thanked the international organizations that trusted her and that they put the money to be able to train journalists in the new technology,” the lawyer stressed.
While Pedro Joaquín Chamorro swore before God and the Country; the memory of his father, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal; also in memory of his mother, former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, to confirm “that he has never taken money from the Foundation or done anything illegal with the Foundation’s funds to which he did not even have access.”
The newspaper the pressowned by the Chamorros, has indicated that even if they appeal to the Court of Appeals there will be a negative response and the necessary instances to transfer the cases to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will be exhausted.
USAID: “Charges against Cristiana Chamorro and Foundation staff are a farce”
The trials against the more than 40 political prisoners in Nicaragua have been repeatedly condemned and branded as “a farce” by officials from the United States and its allies, who have warned that the government of Daniel Ortega seeks to perpetuate itself in power by maintaining behind the bars to opponents.
The administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power said on her Twitter account recently that the charges against Chamorro and the rest of the Foundation’s staff “are a farce orchestrated by the regime to silence civil society and the media.”
“The Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation is an organization that defends access to public information and strengthens independent journalism in Nicaragua. The charges against Cristiana Chamorro are an orchestrated farce,” Power said.
US Senators have also spoken on the matter before consultations with the VOA.
Senator Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, recently rejected Chamorro’s conviction and called for the release of the rest of the “political prisoners” detained in 2021.
“Now what [Ortega] the presidency has been stolen again, Chamorro and the people of Nicaragua have been sentenced to many more years of prison and oppression, just for believing and asking for freedom,” said Senator Rick Scott.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, also from Florida, has asked the government of President Joe Biden to use all the tools of the Renacer Law signed in November 2021, which establishes measures of pressure and review of economic measures.
The government of Daniel Ortega, for its part, does not give in to the demands for the release of the opponents and, contrary to this, has said that they are in prison for attempting “against the peace and stability of the country.”
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