Nicaragua’s justice this week released the first sentence in a series of trials of opponents of dictator Daniel Ortega, which human rights organizations describe as a “judicial farce”.
Ana Margarita Vijil, a lawyer and human rights defender, had been tried and convicted last week, and on Monday (7) a sentence of ten years in prison was announced, for the crime of conspiracy to act contrary to “national integrity”. .
In a recording, Vijil’s mother, María Josefina Gurdián, claimed that her daughter was subjected to “an illegal and illegitimate trial”. At the end of the trial, the dissident Sandinista asked to make a final statement, “and with great dignity and courage, she declared herself a defender of human rights and affirmed that it is a work that she will continue to do for the rest of her life”, according to the report. from the mother.
“When he was asked to sign the minutes, he wrote, under his signature, in his own handwriting: political prisoner,” added Gurdián.
Although the former president of the Sandinista Renovator Movement (MRS), a spin-off of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) now called the Renovating Democratic Union (Unamos), is the first sentenced to know her sentence, eight other political opponents have already been sentenced by the Nicaraguan justice since the beginning of last week.
Journalist Miguel Mendoza joined on Tuesday (8) Yaser Vado, Yader Parajon (whose brother was murdered in a demonstration held in 2018), former guerrilla Dora Maria Tellez, student leader Lesther Alemán, journalist Miguel Mora, who had run for president, María Fernanda Flores, former first lady and wife of former president Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002), and Suyen Barahona, from Unamos, all of whom have already been found guilty and will have their sentences announced in the next days.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) recalled in a statement that 1,614 people have been arrested in Nicaragua since the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega unleashed a process of “systematic repression” in April 2018.
“After the Amnesty Law, which allowed the release of the majority, several were arrested for the second time and there are currently 167 political prisoners in Nicaragua,” said the organization.
FIDH noted that since May 2021, 43 human rights defenders and political opponents have been arrested in Nicaragua, including seven presidential candidates. “These people are being held in conditions that amount to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, contrary to international human rights law, which the State of Nicaragua is obliged to respect,” he said.
In January, Daniel Ortega took office for his fifth five-year term – his fourth in a row – after elections deemed illegitimate by most of the international community due to arrests of opponents and the absence of observers.
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