The Ortega justice system under absolute secrecy initiated the impeachment trial against six religious and one lay person, who in August 2022 were kidnapped in the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa for 15 days together with Bishop Rolando Álvarez -also in house arrest and sent to trial-, confirmed the local media CSI Mosaic.
The priests Ramiro Tijerino Chávez, General Rector of the Juan Pablo II University; José Luis Díaz Cruz, vicar of the Cathedral of Matagalpa and his predecessor Sadiel Antonio Eugarrios Cano; Deacon Raúl Antonio Vega; seminarians Darvin Leiva Mendoza and Melkin Centeno, as well as photojournalist Sergio Cadena Flores were transferred from Matagalpa to the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), El Chipote, after the police assault on the Curia, on August 19, 2022.
The Prosecutor’s Office aligned with the Ortega regime accused the religious and the photographer of the alleged crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news. Last October, Judge Nalia Nadezdha Úbeda Obando, of the Fifth Criminal Court District of Managua, sent the case to trial.
According to the digital system of the Judiciary, six policemen -four from the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ) and two experts-, in addition to seven laymen were proposed as witnesses in the case against the priests. The case is filed in the Second Criminal Trial District Court of Managua, in charge of the Judge Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodríguez.
Details of the accusation are unknown, which, according to independent lawyers, is one more file of those fabricated by the Prosecutor’s Office against prisoners of conscience of the Ortega regime. The secrecy has implied that not even the defenses themselves have access to the judicial document in its entirety, indicated a source related to the cases.
The process against the religious and the photojournalist occurs a week after Ortega judge Nancy Aguirre Gudiel found the priest Óscar Danilo Benavides Dávila, parish priest of Mulukukú guilty, for the crimes of conspiracy and false news; both instrumentalized by the Ortega justice system to punish critical voices in Nicaragua.
In the accusation against the priest Benavides, the Public Ministry points to Monsignor Álvarez as the “ringleader” of alleged illegal activities, indicated Mosaico CSI. The Police justified the kidnapping of the prelate under an alleged investigation for “organizing violent groups” with the “purpose of destabilizing the State of Nicaragua and attacking the constitutional authorities.”
Religious health status unknown
Since the priests were kidnapped by the Daniel Ortega regime Police, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has kept silent about the legal situation of the religious. The parents, seminarians, the deacon and the photographer have received visits from their relatives in El Chipote, but their relatives have chosen to keep all the details confidential, so the impact generated by the confinement in their state is unknown. physical, emotional and spiritual health.
Contrary to Monsignor Álvarez, who the Ortega regime released two photographs – showing his physical wear and tear and pallor – while he was participating in judicial hearings in the capital’s courts, the six religious and the layman have been hidden since their kidnapping.
They had just been transferred to the capital, some family sources assured under anonymity that they were concerned about the health of the priests, since in some cases they require specialized medicines to treat their chronic illnesses. The same thing happened with the priest Enrique Martinez Gamboa, the last religious captured by the Police.
The defendants accompanied Monsignor Álvarez to pray, pray and celebrate Mass inside the Episcopal Curia for 15 days, while they were surrounded by the Police.
On the other hand, in the trial against the priest Benavides, the first religious convicted of crimes instrumentalized for political purposes, the Prosecutor’s Office took residents of Mulukukú, among prosecution witnesses and, as confirmed by Mosaico CSI, one of them did not even know the father .
The trial hearing was held in less than eight hours, from approximately nine in the morning to five in the afternoon on January 16.
The political trial against Monsignor Rolando Álvarez
The Ortega justice sent the case of Monsignor Álvarez to trial on January 10, but until now the date of its programming is unknown.
However, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has already listed the twelve witnesses and four experts who will testify in the spurious trial against Bishop Álvarez. will be three policemen, two state workers and several Sandinista sympathizers.
Neither the Catholic Church nor Pope Francis has spoken about this trial, a silence that has been criticized by human rights defenders, parishioners, and the priests and nuns themselves through an open letter, without so far generating any reaction in the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN).
The Ortega regime maintains a brutal persecution against the Church, which has led to the imprisonment of 11 priests, nine accused of political crimes and two convicted of common crimes. Likewise, the Police is in charge of intimidating and monitoring other parish priests in different areas of the country, and mainly, in the Diocese of Matagalpa, led by Bishop Álvarez.
Police have also banned large and local processions. In the first 15 days of January, at least, he canceled six. Faced with Ortega’s repression, the priests have chosen not to denounce the abuses against them and limit themselves to celebrating the patron saints inside the Church or the atrium of the temple.
