Nicaragua: opponent Cristiana Chamorro finally sentenced to eight years in prison
Nicaraguan opponent Cristiana Chamorro, here during a press conference after the imprisonment of two of her former employees, on May 31, 2021 in Managua.
© Inti Ocon / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In Nicaragua, the trials of political prisoners arrested a few months before the November 2021 presidential election continue.
Monday, March 21, it was up to President Daniel Ortega's pet peeve, Cristiana Chamorro, to be sentenced to eight years in prison, like around twenty other opponents.
She accuses the authorities of having fabricated her case against her in order to arrest her six months before the election and prevent her from running.
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Cristiana Chamorro was, in 2021, the favorite in the polls wearing the colors of a united opposition, which hoped to defeat
Daniel Ortega in the presidential election
.
This as his mother had done in 1990.
But six months before the ballot, in June 2021,
like other potential opponents
of the president,
she was placed under house arrest
.
At the heart of the legal proceedings against him, there is this foundation for the defense of freedom of the press, which bears
the name of his mother
, the former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997).
The 68-year-old daughter ran it for 20 years.
Destabilization companies
The foundation's finances, like those of all NGOs in Nicaragua, are now under scrutiny.
Because they often receive funds from abroad: they are accused by the authorities of being enterprises of destabilization, at the orders of the United States in particular.
Due to pressure, Cristiana Chamorro had decided to suspend the activities of her foundation.
Waste of time: in all, five people who were linked to it were sentenced to heavy sentences.
Including the former candidate herself,
first sentenced to five years in prison
for "
money laundering
", as well as an additional three years for "
embezzlement
".
She is expected to continue serving her sentences under house arrest.
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To read also:
Nicaragua: 25 NGOs declared outlaws
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Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega
Justice