The regime of Daniel Ortega “unfroze” the political trials against the areas of conscience and opposition leaders Dora Maria Tellez and Ana Margarita Vijil, and political prisoners Yader Parajón and Yaser Vado, accusing them of alleged “conspiracy to undermine national integrity to the detriment of the State of Nicaragua and Nicaraguan society” and other crimes fabricated by the Public ministry, which is controlled by the ruling Sandinista Front. In addition, the trials will be held in “the new Chipote”, where these four and more than thirty political prisoners have been incarcerated since mid-2021, being subjected to permanent interrogations and physical and psychological torture.
The trial against the guerrilla commander, historian and leader of the opposition Democratic Renovating Union (Unamos, formerly MRS), will be held on Thursday, February 3 at 8:30 in the morning at the Evaristo Vásquez Police Complex or “the new Chipote” , where their initial and preliminary hearings were also held behind closed doors, as confirmed by Nicaraguan lawyers, despite the fact that their case is not yet shown in the digital system of the Judiciary.
The resumption of the political trial against Ana Margarita Vijil, former president of Unamos, was also confirmed, although the date of the trial is unknown. Téllez and Vijil were arrested on June 13, during the political hunt against Unamos leaders, which included the arrest of retired Brigadier General and guerrilla commander, Hugo Torrez; former vice chancellor Víctor Hugo Tinoco and the president of Unamos, Suyen Barahona.
In addition, the regime scheduled the trial against Yader Parajón, brother of the Nicaraguan murdered in May 2018, Jimmy Parajón, and against Yaser Vado González, a student expelled from UNAN-Managua, also a member of Unamos and the opposition National Blue and White Unit. .
Parajón was arrested in September 2021, near the border with Honduras, and Vado was arrested more than two months later, in November. However, both were included in a single legal case, which includes “conspiracy to undermine national integrity.” In addition, Vado is also accused of “propagation of false news” through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). According to a report from the digital news platform Office 505, the trial against them is scheduled for the first of February, also at 8:30 in the morning.
Political trials frozen without reason for months
In October 2021, the judges where the cases of the political prisoners, imprisoned in “the new Chipote”, are being held, suspended the political trials indefinitely, citing “work overload” or “force majeure reasons” that were not detailed.
Lawyers and national and international human rights defenders interpreted the excuse as a strategy of the Daniel Ortega regime to “freeze” the processes at the gates of the presidential votes in which he was re-elected for a fourth consecutive presidential term and which were described as “ electoral farce” and declared illegitimate by the opposition and the international community.
In addition, analysts and specialists in Law valued that the objective of lengthening these political trials was to use prisoners of conscience as “exchange tokens” in the negotiations intended by Ortega.
The paralysis of the trials of political prisoners violates the constitutional principle of the speed of the judicial process to which all Nicaraguans are entitled, in addition to articles 134 and 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPP), and article 40 of Law 735 o Prevention, Investigation and Prosecution of Organized Crime and Administration of Seized, Confiscated and Abandoned Assets.
In addition, the regime and its judges violate article 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which establishes the presumption of innocence, indicating that “every person charged with a crime will be presumed innocent and as such must be treated at all times during the process, while not his guilt is declared by means of a final judgment issued in accordance with the law”, and reiterating it in article 178 of the same Code. However, Ortega propaganda has condemned at all times the more than 160 political prisoners who remain imprisoned, including the more than 60 detained between May and November 2021.
In addition, Ortega himself has publicly referred to them accusing them of “terrorists” and “traitors of the country” and on November 8, in an act in which he was proclaimed elected, he directed his most virulent speech against political prisoners, calling them “sons of bitches of imperialism”, an adjective that he has continued to repeat in each of his few public appearances.
Among the 39 political prisoners captured between May 28 and October 21 (including four under house arrest), 29 are accused of alleged conspiracy to undermine; another seven are accused of money laundering and other crimes; two are investigated for violations of the “Law of Sovereignty” and one for abusive management and improper approval and retention.
What about the other political trials?
Despite the fact that this January 25 it transpired that the regime unblocked the political processes against four prisoners of conscience, the rest of the trials are still “frozen”, as confirmed to CONFIDENTIAL three defense attorneys for political prisoners who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
However, one of them did not rule out that political trials could be unblocked after the seven-year prison sentence against opponent Donald Margarito Alvarenga, issued on January 13, for alleged violation of the Special Cybercrime Law or “Gag Law”. ” and the “Sovereignty Law”.
Lawyer Juan Diego Barberena explained to CONFIDENTIAL that the CPP does not force the judge to resume the trial within a certain period, after the argument of being suspended for “a cause of force majeure”.
However, he criticized that “the judicial authority is granted a wide discretionary power that, in the end, violates the fundamental guarantees and the rules of due process of the accused persons.”
According to article 135 of the CPP, the causes of political prisoners are “complex processing”. This means that the trials could last up to 12 months, counted from the first hearing which, in most cases, was held in the first week of September, when some of the inmates served 90 days of arrest, a period which was originally 48 hours, but which the regime reformed to lengthen it at its convenience.
Another specialist consulted by CONFIDENTIAL at the end of October 2021, he also explained that the “freezing” of the trials stopped the count of the criminal process, facilitating that the term established by the Law for cases of complex processing does not expire.
“What they are doing is not only giving the status of complex processing to take them up to twelve months, but they leave this same period in abeyance and run the beginning of the computation of days, to have the person detained for more time without holding a trial. ”, stressed the lawyer.
The case of Téllez: They force to appoint a substitute defender
In the notification of the political trial against Dora María Téllez, the Prosecutor’s Office warned that a substitute defense attorney of the defendant’s choice and preference be appointed, in accordance with the provisions of article 108 of the CPP and, in the event that he does not comply, a public defender be appointed. .
The national legislation contemplates that the lawyer has a substitute who intervenes when the head of the case has “some temporary impediment and has previously informed the judge or court.” However, this appointment is not mandatory, as the trial notice suggests, as confirmed by the lawyer Barberena, so that the Ortega Prosecutor’s Office would actually intend to appoint a “substitute defender” who, being ex officio, adheres to the interests of the Prosecutor’s Office and not to the defense of the political prisoner.
Barberena recalled that even political prisoners have been prevented from meeting or interviewing their defense attorneys.
