The Nicaraguan Human Rights Collective Never Again condemned the “arbitrary and unconstitutional” sentence against the president and vice president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, respectively; who were sentenced to 13 and 9 years in prison.
“The entire process, from their arrests and subsequent trials, is riddled with irregularities and violations of their human rights. The families of Healy and Vargas are concerned about the health situation and mistreatment they suffer in the prisons of El Nuevo Chipote,” the Collective denounced.
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Ortega judge Ángel Jeancarlos Fernández González, of the Fourth Criminal District Court of Managua, sentenced Healy to 13 years in prison for “undermining national integrity” and nine years to Vargas for “conspiracy against national integrity.” The process against the two hostages of conscience took place in the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ) in Managua, where they have been held captive for more than six months.
The defense organization emphasizes that the entire process “since their arrests and subsequent trials, are riddled with irregularities and violations of their human rights. The families of Healy and Vargas are concerned about the health situation and mistreatment they suffer in the El Nuevo Chipote prisons.
“Healy and Vargas join the list of businessmen arrested and unconstitutionally convicted, such as the former president of Cosep José Adán Aguerri and the general manager of the financial group Banpro Luis Rivas,” reject human rights defenders who have expressed fear for the physical integrity of the political prisoners of Ortega.
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The directors of the private company were arrested on October 21, 2021. Healy was summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office for an “interview” in the case of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides). That same day he was arrested minutes after giving a statement to the Ortega authorities. While Vargas was captured in his home.
The Collective repudiates “the convictions and deprivation of liberty that confirm the systematic repression and serious violations of human rights in Nicaragua. We demand the end of the persecution, the application of unconstitutional and arbitrary laws and the full freedom of the more than 180 political prisoners,” the statement concludes.
