The justice of Daniel Ortega sentenced this Friday, February 10, the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, under a penalty of 26 years in prison. This after being transferred to the Jorge Navarro prison system known as “La Modelo”.
«The Nicaraguan dictatorship has just sentenced Monsignor Rolando Álvarez to more than 26 years in prison. We will not rest until we recover his freedom. Rolando, friend, the people are with you!” denounced the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) through its social networks.
Related news: Ortega calls Monsignor Álvarez “insane, raging and rabid” for refusing to be exiled
After the exile of 222 political prisoners from Nicaragua, the regime announced that the bishop of Matagalpa resisted leaving the country, which unleashed the annoyance of the presidential couple who insulted the prelate at a press conference this 9 from January. Ortega pointed out to the bishop as “unhinged, maddened and rabid” and that because of his decision not to board the plane and be expelled from Nicaragua he was sent to “La Modelo” in Tipitapa.
Monsignor Álvarez is the first Nicaraguan bishop imprisoned by the Sandinista dictatorship and accused of crimes of treason against the homeland, for allegedly violating Law 1055, Law of Sovereignty. This legal tool was approved to persecute opponents of the regime.
Daniel Ortega also criticized the conditions in which Monsignor Rolando Álvarez was held under house arrest. Since his arrest, on August 19, 2022, the member of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference (CEN), remained captive in his family home in Managua.
“Since he was kept at home, special meals were made for him every day, the doctors came twice a day, the sisters came to cook for him, and he lived in a mansion. It’s not that he lives in a little house like the houses for the town, or like the house where Cardinal (Leopoldo) Brenes lives, in Altagracia, no. He lives in a mansion », launched the dictator.
The trial against the religious leader was scheduled for this coming February 15, but he was immediately sentenced this Friday to 26 years in prison.
For the religious, the Public Ministry had prepared a dozen witnesses. Among them were Sandinistas from the Matagalpa department, an Ortega radio journalist, and officials from the Ministry of Education and the local mayor’s office.
In addition, the Ortega regime ordered the religious leader, one of the most critical of his dictatorship, to be stripped of his Nicaraguan nationality. This action is the same that was applied to 222 political prisoners expelled from the country on February 9.
