The cleric was convicted of undermining national sovereignty and territorial integrity and spreading false news; he was also fined and stripped of his citizenship.
A Nicaraguan court sentenced Catholic bishop Rolando Alvarez to more than 26 years in prison on Friday, a day after cleric and critic of the president Daniel Ortega refused his release and extradition to the United States.
The cleric was convicted of undermining national sovereignty and territorial integrity and spreading false news; he was also fined and stripped of his citizenship.
Police arrested the bishop in August after weeks of him being locked up on Roman Catholic church property with other priests.
Rolando Alvarez was supposed to be the 223rd political prisoner released by the government of Daniel Ortega and flown to the US last Thursday, but he refused to board the plane bound for Dulles Airport, near Washington.
In remarks broadcast live on Thursday night, President Ortega, whom his political opponents accuse of growing authoritarianism, called those released “criminals,” “mercenaries” of the U.S. and other foreign powers seeking to undermine the Nicaraguan government and of “national sovereignty”, declaring that the bishop would be led back to prison.
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