The trial against the former candidate for the presidency of Nicaragua, Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of the legendary former president, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who defeated Daniel Ortega in 1990, is ready to begin this Friday, informed the VOA one of the lawyers close to the case.
The trial was scheduled to begin this Thursday, however, a lawyer who requested anonymity, commented that what there was was a preparation to finalize the details of what he called a “judicial farce.”
Cristiana Chamorro, who had been in house arrest since her arrest in June last year, was transferred to the maximum security cells in Managua called “El Chipote” for the trial.
According to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), Chamorro was taken to a cell, forced to wear a blue uniform, characteristic of prisoners, and they put plastic handcuffs on her.
Twelve civilians -some of them journalists- and an official from the Ministry of the Interior, which is the entity in charge of supervising the NGOs, will be present as witnesses in the trial, a lawyer revealed to this medium.
In the prosecution at the hands of the voice of america Emphasis is placed on training by the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which was directed by Cristiana Chamorro in support of journalists; however, the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that the objective was supposedly “attack the government and the army.”
Chamorro, along with the two former employees of the Chamorro Foundation, are accused of the alleged crimes of abusive management, ideological falsehood, appropriation and improper retention, and money laundering of goods and assets.
Meanwhile, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, Cristiana’s brother, is accused of abusive management, ideological falsehood, appropriation and improper retention.
Chamorro’s driver is accused of the alleged crime of collaborating necessary for money laundering.
“This will demonstrate the claims of the Chamorro Foundation to train organizations and people so that they are using different means to destabilize the economic development of the country by spreading false news against the Nicaraguan government,” indicates part of the accusation.
Seven more opponents sentenced
At the same time, Ortega’s justice imposed this Thursday sentences of 8 to 13 years in prison on seven opponents detained in 2021 in the government’s escalation of repression against its critics.
The presidential candidates Félix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro were sentenced to 13 years in prison; the same as the former president of the private sector José Adán Aguerri and the former Nicaraguan vice chancellor José Pallais, whose precautionary measure was recently changed to house arrest.
The former Nicaraguan ambassador in Washington, Arturo Cruz, whose precautionary measure was also changed, was sentenced to 9 years in prison; while the women activists Violeta Granera and Tamara Dávila were sentenced to 8 years in prison.
All opponents who have been sentenced were found guilty of allegedly having committed “undermining national integrity” on February 23.
The Prosecutor’s Office showed as evidence a WhatsApp group to which the opponents belonged. Photographs of these were also presented with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro.
The trials against the 46 Nicaraguan opponents began in early February. To date, at least 25 of them have been sentenced to between 8 and 13 years in prison, according to a compilation made by the newspaper La Prensa.
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