Opposition Cristiana Chamorro is sentenced to 8 years in prison in Nicaragua

Managua, 21 Mar Opponent Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, whom Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega avoided facing in the controversial recent presidential elections when she was imprisoned, was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for the crimes of money, property and asset laundering, appropriation and retention wrongdoing, abusive management and ideological falsehood. Chamorro, a 68-year-old journalist by profession and who has been under house arrest since June 2, 2021, was convicted by Judge Luden Martín Quiroz, of the Ninth Criminal District Court of Managua, reported the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), which followed up the case, in a statement Daughter of the murdered Nicaraguan hero and anti-Somocista journalist Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal and former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), Cristiana Chamorro was the opposition figure most likely to win the presidential elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected to his fifth, fourth term in a row and second together with wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with his main contenders in prison. THE SEVEN OPPONENTS THAT ORTEGA AVOIDED Chamorro is the seventh opponent who aspired to be a candidate for the presidency of Nicaragua in the last elections to be found guilty and convicted of the crimes of money laundering or treason. The other six are academician Arturo Cruz, who was ambassador to the US government of Ortega between (2007-2009), from whom he distanced himself; the activist, academic and leader of the Blue and White National Unit, Felix Maradiaga, and the economist and political nephew of former President Barrios de Chamorro, Juan Sebastián Chamorro. Also journalist Miguel Mora, founder, owner and former director of the television channel 100% Noticias, closed by the authorities and now broadcast on the internet platform; the peasant leader Medardo Mairena; and the conservative lawyer and politician Noel Vidaurre. The trial of Cristiana Chamorro is part of a series of judicial proceedings involving a quarantine of opposition leaders critical of the Sandinista government, who were imprisoned prior to those elections and were mostly accused of “treason of the homeland” or money laundering. ALSO BROTHER AND THREE WORKERS The Prosecutor's Office accused the opposition journalist in her capacity as president of the NGO Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation based on a complaint by the Ministry of the Interior. According to the Government, this NGO, dedicated to the protection and promotion of freedom of the press and expression, “seriously breached its obligations to the Regulatory Body, and from the analysis of the Financial Statements for the period 2015-2019, clear signs of money laundering were obtained.” Together with the journalist, Marcos Fletes and Walter Gómez, respectively, were sentenced to 13 years in prison, and Chamorro's personal driver, Pedro Vásquez, to seven years, who were accused of similar crimes. The judicial also imposed a nine-year sentence on Cristiana's older brother, the 70-year-old opponent Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios. Both are members of the Board of Directors of the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa, which celebrated the 96th anniversary of its founding on March 2. In order to investigate this case, the Prosecutor's Office called some thirty journalists to testify as witnesses, including the writer, novelist and former Nicaraguan vice-president Sergio Ramírez Mercado, in his capacity as legal representative of the NGO Fundación Luisa Mercado, which had a relationship with the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, and had to exile to avoid being arrested. Ortega has branded the imprisoned and tried opponents as “traitors to the homeland”, “criminals” and “sons of bitches of the Yankee imperialists” .EFE lfp/av/laa (photo) (video)