The Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective Nunca Más described as unconstitutional, unfair and infamous the sentence imposed by the Nicaraguan justice against the relatives of opposition member Javier Álvarez, for the alleged crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news.
The Ortega judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón, of the Fifth Criminal District Court of Managua, sentenced this Thursday, January 26, to eight years in prison for the French citizens Jeannine Horvilleur Block Y Ana Carolina Alvarez Horvilleuragainst the latter the confiscation of her truck was also ordered.
Related news: Justice of Ortega sentences relatives of opposition member Javier Álvarez to 8 and 10 years in prison
He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for Felix Roiz Sotomayor, son-in-law of the opponent, forced to go into exile so as not to be a victim of the Ortega dictatorship.
For human rights defenders, this new attack “is part of the state of terror carried out by the Ortega-Murillo regime, which prescribes jail or exile like the one suffered by Javier Álvarez Zamora, husband and father of political prisoners.”
At the same time, they emphasized that both Jeannine Horvilleur, 63, and her daughter, Ana Carolina Álvarez Horvilleur, 43, suffer from chronic illnesses, which are worsening due to the deprivation of liberty.
“We demand the immediate cessation of these arbitrary trials, the freedom of Jeannine and Ana Carolina, as well as the more than 240 political prisoners in Nicaragua,” the Collective demanded.
Related news: French organizations condemn the “baseness and ferocity” of Ortega-Murillo against the Álvarez-Horvilleur family
For his part, Javier Álvarez recently told Article 66 that he maintains the certainty of the innocence of his relatives and reiterated that the new political prisoners of the Nicaraguan regime “have not committed any crime.”
The opponent added that “by punishing the one they believe to be “guilty” they took revenge on my family”; He also assured that the defense will appeal the sentence imposed by the Nicaraguan justice system.
The three citizens were detained by the Police on September 13, 2022, one day before the national festivities. Officials were looking for Javier Álvarez and when they could not find him, because he had gone into exile in search of international protection, they decided to imprison his relatives.
Since their arbitrary detention, they have been held at the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ), known as “El Nuevo Chipote”, in Managua, where there are more than 30 prisoners of conscience, thus adding to the list of more than 230 imprisoned opponents.
