The perpetual disqualification more than 14 political prisoners to hold public or elected office and the suppression of their political rights, imposed by the machinery of Ortega judges through “accessory penalties”, are “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. because they do not exist in the Nicaraguan legal framework, legal specialists assured.
The Prosecutor’s Office, dominated by the Sandinista Front, asked the Ortega judges since the end of last week to admit these “accessory penalties” to some sentences handed down in 2022 against thirty civic, social and political leaders, imprisoned in the Directorate of Assistance Judiciary (DAJ). Likewise, they were annexed in the sentences of the prisoners of conscience captured in the context of the municipal votes of 2022 and sentenced in January of this year -including the priests of the Diocese of Matagalpa-.
The human rights specialist, Uriel Pineda, explained in an interview on the program Tonightwhich is broadcast on Youtube by television censorship, that the restriction of political rights – the right to vote, the right to elect and be elected or any other right associated with citizen participation in the political life of the country – can occur in a state of emergency or derived from a judicial process, but they are not applied as a penalty, as the Ortega regime tries to do with political prisoners.
“That they impose it as an accessory penalty distorts the legal nature and violates the most elementary statements of a legal framework. You cannot apply a penalty that does not exist,” Pineda said.
“We are facing the violation of the most essential elements of a civilized society. It is no longer just a violation of due process, it is no longer just an element that serves as evidence to say that there is a policy of persecution by the authorities to commit, specifically Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, crimes against humanity to the detriment of political prisoners, but rather that we are facing an irrational claim, which seeks to endorse the loyalty of justice operators and intimidate the relatives of political prisoners,” Pineda explained.
The stigma of “traitors to the homeland”
In the judicial certificates held by CONFIDENTIAL Ortega judges base the decision to impose accessory sentences on political prisoners, citing Law 1055 or the Sovereignty Law, which is part of the combo of punitive legislation approved at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 to imprison political opponents, including seven presidential hopefuls.
The lawyer “Francisco” explained that Law 1055 It is of an administrative and not criminal nature, therefore, it is not above the Political Constitution of Nicaragua, which also does not contemplate the disqualification for life from holding public office, much less, it perpetually restricts the political rights of any person deprived of liberty.
The judicial notifications were presented in an almost identical format, with the difference in the names of political prisoners and defenders. This fact was previously denounced by the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), pointing out that the Judiciary used “machotes” in cases fabricated against prisoners of conscience.
In the text, the courts point out that the prisoners of conscience were sentenced for acts that “violated the legal and constitutional order, attacking the State of Nicaragua and Nicaraguan society by violating peace, sovereignty, independence (…)” and they call them “traitors to the homeland.”
The lawyer and opponent, Juan Diego Barberena, explained that the classification of traitors imposed on the judicial certificates on political prisoners does not correspond to the crime typified in the judicial case for which they were convicted. Most of the prisoners of conscience have been tried for the crimes of conspiracy to undermine the national integrity and propagation of false news.
Barberana considered that this category “has been used to stigmatize opposition people by the political regime, which also puts null judicial independence on the table.”
For his part, the lawyer “Francisco” points out that to impose a sentence or refer to a crime of treason there must have been a judicial process, in which the person is accused of acts of treason and sentenced for the same. . And that is not true in any of the cases of political prisoners. Therefore, the regime is using these legal figures to harm prisoners of conscience, without legal support.
Although, the lawyer continues, Law 1055 annuls the possibility for a person to run for a position of popular election, this measure is administrative and not criminal.
On the other hand, there is absolute disqualification and special disqualification, contemplated in article 55 and 56 respectively of the Penal Code. However, in neither of the two cases does it raise the possibility of an accessory penalty being imposed on a political prisoner for life. The duration of the special disqualification will be during the time of the main sentence, states article 56.
While article 55 indicates that “the penalty of absolute disqualification will last from six to twenty years and consists of the loss of public office or employment, even if it comes from a popular election, the deprivation of all public honors, as well as the inability to obtain any other honor, office or public employment and the loss of the right to elect and be elected during the time of the sentence.” Again, there is no perpetuity.
Judges commit prevarication
After the Ortega judges sentenced political prisoners in hermetic hearings last January and notified their defenders of the sentences, the courts modified the resolution to add the “accessory sentences” requested at the last minute by the Prosecutor’s Office. That is an illegal act, lawyers consulted concluded.
The judicial can remedy “at any time before the notification of the resolution and as long as it does not imply an essential modification of the resolution”, determines article 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code. However, this did not apply in the most recent cases.
In one of the judicial documents verified by CONFIDENTIAL, The court sent a first notification to add the disqualification from public office, and later, sent another for the perpetual suppression of political rights.
The situation changes in the 2021 cases, which have a final judgment or are still on appeal in various instances of the judicial process -appellate or cassation courts in the Supreme Court of Justice-. The modification to the resolutions was applied by sentence execution judges.
This evidence, according to Pineda, that the regime is evaluating the loyalty of the Prosecutor’s Office and the judicial system, by forcing a prosecutor to request an accessory penalty “so irrational” and therefore, that the judges admit it. In addition, he sends an intimidating message to the relatives of political prisoners who wanted to denounce their cases before international organizations, stating that they can dispose of the conditions of their relatives, victims of reprisals, “with impunity.”
“It is the element of fear that is imposed on the family and the element of fear that is also imposed on the different justice operators,” said Pineda. From the perspective of the lawyer “Francisco” the courts cannot ignore their responsibility for the illegalities they endorse, for this reason they are committing “prevaricato”, he pointed out.
The crime of prevarication is punishable by a sentence of five to seven years for judges and magistrates who commit acts contrary to the Political Constitution and national laws.
Political background: land is being prepared for release
Daniel Ortega in his first speech of this 2023 ratified that he will not release political prisoners, while maintaining the de facto police state throughout the country. However, the approval of these accessory sentences to the sentences of political prisoners can be interpreted, according to lawyers, as a “preparation” for the eventual release of prisoners of conscience, who, upon regaining their freedom, cannot run for public office.
The Ortega regime could use any legal figure to free the prisoners of conscience that allows it to maintain the illegal accessory penalties that they have just imposed. In this way, Ortega complies with the demand for the release of 245 political prisoners by the international community, but guarantees to leave them “out of the political game,” several lawyers analyzed.
There is no certainty if this is the background of these new sentences, which the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) described as “legal aberrations.” In any case, Ortega has ordered that the measure affect priests, relatives of political prisoners, local opposition leaders, and others who make up the most recent group of prisoners of conscience. None of these citizens have a political career.
However, the lawyers point out that Ortega could be thinking about a future electoral process, in which he does not want legitimate political competition. The regime does not discriminate against whom to punish with the perpetual ban on their political rights or running for elected office because it is aware that it could not retain power against any opponent who has been in jail and who decides to run for president in a process with the minimum guarantees. Losing power entails exposing himself to possible legal processes against him, said the lawyer “Francisco”.
