MEPs Soraya Rodríguez, Javier Nart and Jordi Cañas sent a request to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Josep Borrell, in which they request sanctions against 14 judges of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of Nicaragua who have issued sentences against political prisoners, thereby expanding the “black list” of Ortega officials punished by the European Parliament.
In the list is Karen Chavarría and Luden Martin Quiroz, of the Ninth Criminal District Court of Managua, who have sentenced and sentenced Cristiana Chamorro, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. In addition, of having prosecuted hostages of conscience such as Ana Margarita Vijil, Miguel Mendoza and María Fernanda Flores.
Judge Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodríguez also appears, who was appointed as the new Second Judge of the Managua Criminal Trial District on February 3, 2021. A year later, on February 3, 2022, Tardencilla declared student leader Lesther Alemán guilty. On February 4, she pronounced guilty against the journalist and presidential candidate, Miguel Mora, owner of the media outlet 100% Noticias, confiscated since 2018 by the Daniel Ortega regime.
Related news: The European Union will sanction 14 judges who sentenced political prisoners of Ortega
According to publications of the Judicial Power, Tardencilla was appointed by the Council of Administration and Judicial Career in February 2021 to replace Dr. Adela Cardoza, who was promoted to magistrate of the Court of Appeals of the Eastern Circumscription (Masaya-Carazo). She also served as a Seventh Civil District Judge.
According to 100% Noticias, the judge who sentenced Mora is the daughter of the former guerrilla and former Sandinista deputy, Orlando José Tardencilla Espinoza, with Mrs. Ivania Rodríguez, originally from the department of Estelí. Mrs. Rodríguez worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1982 and 1990. The new judge has a brother, Roberto Camilo Tardencilla Rodríguez, who works at Meco Constructora, says the outlet.
The list of MEPs is added by Angel Jancarlos Fernández González, judge of the Fourth Criminal District of Managua. He issued the guilty verdict against former Sandinista guerrilla Dora María Téllez, at the hearing held on February 3. According to publications, Fernández is originally from Juigalpa and lives in Managua. He graduated from the Law School of the Catholic University (UNICA), where he was a teacher. In 2014 he was sworn in as substitute judge of the Sixth Court of Hearings of Managua, and in 2017, appointed First Local Criminal Judge of Managua. Fernández also handles the cases of businessmen Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, whom he has already found guilty of alleged conspiracy against the State.
Félix Ernesto Salmerón Moreno, judge of the Fifth Criminal District of Managua, would be the “judicial executioner” of the presidential candidates and political prisoners Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Félix Maradiaga and Arturo Cruz; as well as opposition leaders Violeta Granera, Tamara Dávila, José Pallais, Hugo Torres and businessman José Adán Aguerri.
It would not be the first time for Salmerón to try political prisoners based on publications from the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ). According to the organization of independent lawyers, the Sandinista judge sentenced political prisoner Kaled Toruño to 20 years in prison. In August 2018, the brothers Juan Carlos and Luis Miguel Lesage, and Josué Rojas Álvarez were also prosecuted by the lawyer Salmerón Moreno, then substitute judge of the Tenth Criminal District Court of Managua, indicates El Nuevo Diario.
The list also includes Nancy Aguirre Gudiel, head of the tenth criminal trial court in Managua, who was in charge of convicting the 63-year-old economist and sociologist Irving Larios. Aguirre was also in charge of imprisoning promoters of the closed Permanent Human Rights Commission Jaime Ampié Toledo, Julio Ampié Machado, William Picado and Reynaldo Lira for “terrorists” and being the “ringleaders of the roadblocks.”
Ulisa Yaoska Tapia Silva, originally from Masaya, in 2014 was a candidate for secretary of the board of directors of the Association of Judges and Magistrates of Nicaragua (AJUMANIC) in the group headed by former judge Julio César Arias, recognized in the past for his role as repressor of political prisoners. Tapia was in charge of condemning the leader of Unamos, Suyen Barahona. She currently works in the Thirteenth Criminal District Court of Managua.
Related news: The “executioners” of the political prisoners of “El Nuevo Chipote”
Verónica Fiallos Moncada, judge of the Ocotal Criminal District Court, was the one who sentenced Douglas Alfredo Cerros Lanzas, 53 years old. The opponent was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the alleged crimes of conspiracy and spreading false news. In addition, he ordered the seizure of a Hilux truck, owned by the accused’s wife.
For her part, Judge Rosa Velia Baca Cardoza, of the First Criminal Trial District of Chinandega, rectified a sentence against the opponent Donald Margarito Alvarenga Mendoza, 56, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison under the laws of «cybercrime» and «sovereignty». The initial sentence was seven and a half years in prison. While William Irving Howard López was in charge of sentencing the political prisoners Nidia Barbosa Castillo and Edder Muñoz Centeno.
Howard was promoted to magistrate of the Court of Appeals of the Eastern Circumscription that includes the departments of Masaya-Carazo. His appointment in the Eastern Circumscription, based in Masaya, was ordered by the sanctioned president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Alba Luz Ramos, replacing Ana María Pereira Terán, who resigned due to retirement.
Erick Ramón Laguna Averruz of the District Court of the Department of Estelí, freed Abner Onell Pineda, in the trial for the death of Jorge Rugama Rizo on July 19, 2020. Irma Oralia Laguna Cruz, of the First Criminal District Court of Managua, is also present. ; Rolando Sanarrusia, Judge of the Sixth Criminal Court of Managua; and Melvin Leopoldo Vargas García, of the Seventh Criminal District Court of Managua.
MEPs allege that this group of judges should be sanctioned by the European Union (EU) for convicting and sentencing hundreds of political prisoners since the start of the social protests in April 2018.
