The general manager of La Prensa, Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, was sentenced on March 31 to nine years in prison for the alleged crime of money laundering. The conviction was made by the head of the Second Criminal District Court of Managua, Judge Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodríguez.
The Ortega judge also imposed a multimillion-dollar fine on Holmann, according to the independent media outlet La Prensa, which did not specify the amount of money. The sentence also includes disqualification from exercising his profession, trade or position for nine years.
According to the independent media, Holmann will serve his sentence until September 9, 2030, but the Ortega judge did not specify whether he will be transferred to a prison system or if he will continue in the cells of the new Chipote, where he has already served 229 days in prison. In addition, she adds that this resolution can be appealed by his defense within the period established by law.
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As for “the assets seized” on August 13, 2021, when the Ortega Police confiscated the facilities of the newspaper LA PRENSA, they will remain in custody, the media reports.
The medium also shared the words that Holmann gave, after the sentence was read: “I thank everyone for their prayers. Please keep doing them. I send hugs to all of you. I am strong and I will stay that way. This is going to happen. I tell Chrystal (Munguía, her wife) that I love her above all else, just like my daughters. To my mom, that she takes care of herself and that I hope to see her soon.”
Sentenced under a political trial
The witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office during the political trial, which lasted three days, corresponded to the police officers who confiscated the offices of the former Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCH) and LA PRENSA. As for the evidence on which the Prosecutor’s Office relied to accuse Holmann, it was the records of the raid that the Ortega Police carried out on La Prensa, on August 13, 2021, in which they found “29 cardboard boxes of different sizes , a red plastic box” that contained the accounting documentation of the FVBCH and “ten banners with advertisements alluding to the Foundation”.
Given this, Holmann’s defense alleged that Cristiana Chamorro, former director of the FVBCH and also a shareholder of LA PRENSA, requested to keep those boxes with the documents in the facilities of this medium after the foundation closed in February 2021. That accounting documentation must be kept for several years, and by that date there was no investigation against Chamorro.
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“According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Holmann lied and hid information from the Foundation and placed the date when Cristiana kept the boxes in LA PRENSA as the commission of the act; but the final arguments of the defense were that the accusation did not prove the commission of any crime, except money laundering; and he recalled that like any company or foundation, they have the responsibility to safeguard their documents for several years, ”La Prensa reported in previous articles.
During the impeachment trial, Holmann confirmed his innocence and blamed the regime’s retaliation for being a Chamorro. At that time he declared that his family has values and that he was proud of it. On March 23, he was found guilty.
“I am innocent and have not committed any crime. If I am going to receive a punishment for having the last name Chamorro, I am willing to comply with it, ”the media reported on March 23.
Fourth member of the Chamorro family
Holmann is part of a group of more than 40 Nicaraguans, including opposition leaders, critics of President Daniel Ortega, and independent professionals, who were imprisoned before last November’s elections, in which the Sandinista was re-elected for his fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with seven of the applicants in prison.
The businessman became the fourth member of the Chamorro family to be sentenced by the Nicaraguan justice system, which previously did the same with the brothers Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, children of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), and also directors of La Prensa, as well as with Juan Sebastián Chamorro García.
Both Cristiana and Juan Sebastián were arrested after announcing their interest in being a presidential candidate for the opposition.
Holmann, 55, has lost 24 pounds, has a bulge in his abdomen, pain in his groin, fungus on his hands and feet, heart problems, blood pressure, possible prostate problems, and a blemish in his right eye. , apparently due to the unsanitary conditions and lack of ventilation and lighting in his cell, as reported by the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) and La Prensa.
The businessman’s conditions, according to Cenidh, are similar to those of the rest of those captured in the context of the elections, including former diplomats, former Sandinista guerrillas, opposition leaders, youth leaders, peasants, journalists and businessmen.
