The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) described the convictions against Father Óscar Benavidez as “serious”; of the Franco-Nicaraguan citizens Jeannine Horvilleur and her daughter Ana Carolina Álvarez Horvilleur; and the latter’s husband Félix Roiz.
The four political prisoners referred to by the United Nations office were accused by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo for the alleged crimes of treason against the homeland, under the alleged violation of Law 1050, Law of Sovereignty and the Law 1042, Special Law on Cybercrimes.
“Nicaragua – the unprecedented and serious sentences yesterday and today against 1 priest and 3 relatives of a dissident, for undermining national integrity and spreading false news, violate due process and confirm that persecution in Nicaragua has no limits”, The OHCHR wrote on its Twitter social network account
Related news: Regime finds father Óscar Benavidez, from Mulukukú, guilty
The Nicaraguan justice system, controlled by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, found guilty last Monday, January 16, the priest Óscar Benavidez, parish priest of the Espíritu Santo church, in Mulukukú, of the Diocese of Siuna.
The Public Ministry asked Judge Nancy Aguirre Gudiel, head of the Tenth Criminal Trial District Court of Managua, for an eight-year prison sentence against the priest: five for conspiracy and three for spreading false news.
Father Benavidez, originally from the municipality of San Isidro, Matagalpa, was arbitrarily detained by official agents in the afternoon of August 14, 2022, after the priest finished celebrating mass in the Concepción de María chapel.
Although he was initially taken to the cells of the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ), known as El Chipote, in October he was transferred to the Jorge Navarro de Tipitapa Penitentiary System, known as La Modelo.
Yesterday, January 18, after two days of trial, Ortega judge Félix Ernesto Salmerón, of the Fifth Criminal District Court of Managua, found guilty the French citizens, Jeannine Horvilleur Cuadra and Ana Álvarez Horvilleur. In this same process they ruled against Félix Roiz Sotomayor, Ana Carolina’s husband.
The Prosecutor requested the sentence of eight years in prison for Horvilleur Cuadra, 63, Álvarez Horvilleur, 43, while for Félix Roiz Sotomayor he requested a sentence of 10 years in prison.
Horvilleur, Álvarez and Roiz were detained by the Police on September 13, 2022, on the eve of national holidays. 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.
