Former first lady and journalist found guilty of conspiring against Ortega

Former first lady María Fernanda Flores de Alemán and Nicaraguan journalist Miguel Mora were found guilty this Friday for the crime of conspiring to undermine national integrity, bringing the total number of opponents with guilty verdicts to seven in the last three days.

Flores Lanzas, wife of former Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002) and who has been under house arrest since June 21, was found guilty of the crime of conspiracy, in a trial held behind closed doors in El Chipote, a prison located in the Directorate of Judicial Assistance of the National Police, a spokeswoman for the political movement to which he belongs told Efe.

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The Prosecutor’s Office requested eight years in prison and disqualification from holding public office for Flores Lanzas, who was a deputy and directs the Liberal Movement, without legal personality.

The opponent, who was dismissed as a deputy by the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) in the previous legislature, will remain at home in police custody, while her sentence will be read on February 9, according to the information.

ALSO A JOURNALIST WHO ASPIRED FOR THE PRESIDENCY

Meanwhile, the journalist Miguel Mora, who aspired to the Nicaraguan Presidency for the opposition before being imprisoned, was also convicted of the crime of conspiracy against national integrity, according to his wife, fellow communicator Verónica Chávez, who accompanied him during the trial.

The Prosecutor’s Office requested 15 years in prison and disqualification from holding public office for Mora, who is the founder, owner and former director of the television channel 100% Noticias, closed by the President’s government Daniel Ortega in the context of the sociopolitical crisis that the country has been experiencing since April 2018, and which is now broadcast on a digital platform.

Mora was found guilty by Judge Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodríguez, who led the trial also held in El Chipote.

“Miguel was strong, serene”assured the wife, for whom Mora, like “The rest of the political prisoners should not be undergoing a trial, because they have not committed any crime.”

File photo dated June 12, 2019, shows journalist Miguel Mora as he participates in a press conference in Managua (Nicaragua). (EFE / Jorge Torres). (Jorge Torres/)

The journalist, who had announced his intentions to run for the Presidency for the opposition Democratic Restoration Party (PRD), which was stripped of its legal status by the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Electoral Council, was imprisoned for six months (between December 2018 and June 2019).

On that occasion he was accused of “fostering and inciting hatred and violence” and “provocation, proposal and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts” in the framework of the popular revolt, described as an attempted coup by the Executive, and released for an amnesty.

He was arrested again on June 20, 2021 to be investigated for alleged treason against the country, and charged with the crime of conspiracy by the Public Ministry on September 1.

THERE ARE ALREADY SEVEN GUILTY FOR TREASON AGAINST THE COUNTRY

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) has described as “judicial farce” and “new torture sessions” the series of trials that are being carried out against Nicaraguan opponents, of which seven have been found guilty of the crime of conspiracy

The Nicaraguan Justice has declared guilty for the crime of conspiring to undermine national integrity, in addition to Flores de Alemán and Blackberrythe activists Yader Parajón and Yaser Mahumar Vado, and the opposition leader Ana Margarita Vigil.

Also to the former dissident Sandinista guerrilla Dora María Téllez, who was Ortega’s partner in struggle, and to the student leader Lesther Alemán, who rebuked the president during the start of a failed national dialogue almost four years ago, where he ordered him to surrender.

According to the Public Ministry, which had announced that the trials would be oral and public, opponents are being tried for having violated the Political Constitution, the Law for the Defense of the People’s Rights to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace, the Law of sovereign security and the Penal Code of Nicaragua.

Among the defendants are the seven opposition leaders who announced their intentions to run for the Presidency in the elections in which he was re-elected. Ortega for his fifth five-year term, fourth in a row and second together with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president.

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Source: Elcomercio