The guilty verdict issued by the Nicaraguan justice against Christiana Chamorro Barrios, daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, put an end to the trials initiated against the seven opponents whom Daniel Ortega ordered to put behind bars prior to the November election.
This fact led to practically no rival at the polls.
Without major surprises, all were declared “guilty” in “spurious” trials, according to Nicaraguan lawyers and a good part of the international community, including the United States and Costa Rica, whose governments have indicated that “a terrible injustice” has been committed.
“Cristiana and Pedro Chamorro and their colleagues were convicted on unfounded charges, they suffered a terrible injustice at the hands of Ortega-Murillo,” US Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs said on Saturday. Brian Nichols, on his Twitter account.
On the other hand, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Rodolfo Solano Quirós, reiterated “his deep concern” over the guilty verdict against Cristiana Chamorro and former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCh) accused of laundering money, goods and assets.
He also indicated that this “constitutes an additional blow to the institutions in Nicaragua. In a rule of law, judicial independence must be guaranteed, which can never be compromised,” said Solano.
Lawyer Maynor Curtis, who is in charge of the defense of former deputy Pedro Joaquín, told the media Confidential that Judge Luden Martín Quiroz ignored most of the evidence presented and in the case of Cristiana Chamorro, the Prosecutor’s Office was unable to verify the alleged money laundering charges against her.
“(The Prosecutor’s Office) said that it found indications of suspicious activities, but not a direct conclusion that there was money laundering. The problem he had is that he couldn’t prove the dirty origin of the money. One of the defenses (of Cristiana Chamorro) asked the expert if USAID money (United States Agency for International Development) was dirty money and he said no. And that represented 86% of the donations received by the Foundation, in addition to other NGOs in Europe,” Curtis told Confidencial.
But in general, all the verdicts against the presidential candidates lack arguments, indicates the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenid), as well as the Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective Never Again.
the damned
The first presidential candidate found guilty of the crimes charged was Miguel Mora last February 4who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the alleged crime of conspiracy to undermine national integrity.
Subsequently, the candidate and peasant leader Medardo Mairena was found guilty on February 9 for the same crime that Mora was charged with. Then he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Along the same lines, three of the seven presidential candidates were found guilty on February 23 in a single trial: Arturo Cruz, Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Félix Maradiaga, all for the alleged crime of undermining national integrity. Cruz was sentenced to 9 years; and Juan Sebastián and Félix Maradiaga to 13 years.
Then the trial against Noel Vidaurre continued on February 25. He was found guilty on the same charges as the other presidential hopefuls.
Finally, Cristiana Chamorro was sentenced on March 11. Unlike the rest of the presidential candidates, Chamorro was convicted on charges of money laundering, goods and assets, improper appropriation and retention, abusive management and ideological falsehood.
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